What makes Carmina Burana so powerful? The conductor explains

You don’t even need to know the name to recognize the music. That thunderous chorus, the pounding timpani, the voices rising to a climax that sends shivers down your spine—O Fortuna is the most iconic opening in classical music. And yet, Carmina Burana as a whole is so much more than that one excerpt that has appeared in hundreds of blockbuster movies and sports galas.

Music Hall will perform Carl Orff’s masterful work on April 12 (Capitole, Ghent), May 3 (Stadsschouwburg, Antwerp), and May 17 (Bozar, Brussels). We spoke with conductor Paul Dinneweth about what makes this work so special, how to prepare a choir and orchestra for such a monumental score, and what the audience can expect.

"Everyone knows those opening bars—but does anyone actually know what Carmina Burana is?"

How would you explain *Carmina Burana* to someone who has never seen the work before?
"*Carmina Burana*, literally 'Songs of Beuern', is based on medieval poems that Carl Orff discovered in a Bavarian monastery library in 1936. Those texts, written in Latin, Middle High German, and Old French, deal with the vagaries of fate, the beauty of nature, drunkenness, falling in love, and the transience of life. Orff composed a cantata to accompany them that encapsulates in a single evening everything that makes the human experience colorful and turbulent."

"The work opens with 'O Fortuna'—an invocation of the goddess of fate who gives everything and takes everything away. That opening scene is both an ending and a beginning: the score is cyclical. At the end, you return to exactly the same music, exactly the same text. Fate turns, and the wheel stops for no one. That is also the philosophical heart of the piece: we are all at the mercy of Fortuna."

"The music is both old and thoroughly modern"

What sets *Carmina Burana* apart from other major choral works?
"Orff rejected all the romantic sentimentality that his contemporaries still cultivated. His harmonies are raw and elemental, his rhythms repetitive and hypnotic—almost tribal. That approach was radical in 1937. But it also makes the music timeless: it doesn’t seem to belong to any specific era, and thus transcends every passing trend."

"Compared to a Bach cantata or a Brahms Requiem, the structure of *Carmina Burana* is also different. There is no continuous narrative, no dramatic conflict in the traditional sense. Rather, they are snapshots—tableaux of human emotion. That also makes it accessible to people who rarely attend classical music concerts: you don’t need a musical background to let yourself be swept away by it."

"Rehearsals are a kind of build-up to collective ecstasy"

How do you prepare an orchestra and choir for *Carmina Burana*?
"The technical demands are enormous. You need a large symphonic orchestra, a soprano, a tenor, and a baritone, a full choir, and a children’s choir. These groups must work together with razor-sharp precision. A single misstep in O Fortuna—the chance is small, but the risk is real with such a large ensemble—and the magic shatters in an instant."

"In the run-up to the premiere, we rehearse with each group separately. The choir members first learn their parts without the orchestra. Then we bring in the soloists. Then the orchestra. And it’s only during the dress rehearsal—which is always a bit of a magical moment—that you hear the whole piece for the first time. It’s as if different rivers are flowing together into a single, broad stream."

"Carmina Burana is rhythmically very precise. The pulse must be tight; otherwise, the accents lose their impact and you lose the drive that makes the piece so exhilarating."

"Live, Carmina Burana is a physical experience"

What makes a live performance different from a recording?
"Every recording of *Carmina Burana* is excellent—there are some fantastic interpretations out there. But a recording delivers the music through speakers. A live performance delivers the music to you."

"When a choir of over a hundred singers begins 'O Fortuna' in a venue like Bozar or the Capitole, you can feel the air pressure shift. The low strings and the timpani resonate in your chest. That’s not a metaphor—it’s physiology. The acoustics of a large concert hall don’t just amplify the sound; they envelop you in it. That’s something headphones can never give you."

"Moreover, there is the theatricality of the live performance: the focus on the soprano’s face during her aria, the visible precision with which the conductor directs the timpanist, the collective tension of hundreds of singers breathing in unison as they prepare to enter. All of this makes every performance a unique event, even for the musicians themselves."

Bolero: The Perfect Partner

The program also includes Ravel’s *Boléro*. How do the two works complement each other?
"*Boléro* and *Carmina Burana* appear similar at first glance: both works are based on repetition, both build toward a crushing climax, and both are widely accessible to large audiences. But they also complement each other."

"Bolero is one uninterrupted crescendo—a Spanish dance motif that repeats itself for fifteen minutes, growing ever more intense and expansive until it explodes. It is hypnotic and taut. Carmina Burana, on the other hand, breathes, moves, and shifts in character. After Bolero, you give the audience a completely different emotional dimension: not the tense linearity of Ravel, but the explosive versatility of Orff. The two works reinforce each other."

"And practically speaking: Bolero opens the evening with something that immediately grabs the audience. After Bolero as the opener, the audience is already warmed up. Then you launch into Carmina Burana—and you know: this is going to be unforgettable."

Experience it live

Carl Orff’s *Carmina Burana* and Maurice Ravel’s *Boléro* — an evening that starts with rhythm and ends in grandeur. Three dates, three iconic venues. Get your tickets now!