THE SPOKANE SYMPHONY PERFORMS CARMINA BURANA

Apr 5, 2007

For Immediate Release

Contact: ANNIE MATLOW: (509) 326-3136

SPOKANE — The Spokane Symphony will perform Carl Orff's powerful Carmina Burana with soloists and a chorus of more than 200 voices under the direction of Music Director Eckart Preu on Friday, April 13, at 8 p.m. in the INB Performing Arts Center.

The Spokane Symphony Chorale, Washington State University Concert Choir, Eastern Washington University Symphonic Choir, Spokane Falls Chorale, Spokane Area Children's' Chorus and soloists, Dawn Marie Wolski, Soprano, Christopher Pfund, Tenor, and Hugh Russell, Baritone, will join the orchestra.

The evening will begin with Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 5, the first of two works by German composers. Mendelssohn's genteel Reformation Symphony celebrates a milestone in the history of Protestantism with religious respect. Orff's Carmina Burana is anything but genteel. Its savage, viscerally exciting music salutes the ribald poetry of renegade monks and minstrels.

Wolski's clear, brilliant tone and exacting attention to detail is catching the attention of the international opera, operetta, and concert worlds alike. A native of Washington, D.C., Wolski earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Mary's College of Maryland and her Master of Music Degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where her portrayal of Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia was described as "exquisite" in a review in Opera News. Her husband, Mateusz Wolski was recently named concertmaster of the Spokane Symphony.

Pfund's orchestral engagements have included Orff's Carmina Burana with the Jacksonville, Memphis, Colorado, Virginia, Pacific, Alabama, San Diego, Monterey and Detroit symphonies and Handel's Messiah with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and National Arts Centre Orchestra.. A Colorado native, Pfund holds degrees from the University of Northern Colorado and Manhattan School of Music.

Canadian baritone Hugh Russell has won high praise for his voice, intelligent musicianship, and lively presence in opera, concert, and recital. He received a master of music degree at the Eastman School of Music in May, 1998. Last summer, he sang Carmina Burana with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Leonard Slatkin, in a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. This season he has appeared with the Atlanta Opera and the Arizona Opera.

Tickets are $15, $23, $31, and $35. Tickets are available in advance without service charge at the Spokane Symphony Ticket office, 818 W. Riverside, Suite 100, or by calling 509-624-1200. Tickets are also available at all TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT or at spokanesymphony.org. .

Washington State University and Westcoast Entertainment are the underwriters of this concert.