'Carmina Burana' highlights next HHSO concert

"Carmina Burana," Carl Orff's settings of lusty poems about life, love and wine written by medieval wandering scholars, have electrified audiences worldwide.

For its April concerts, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, directed by music director and conductor Mary Woodmansee Green, will perform this powerful and timeless work.Hilton Head soprano Laura Sutton Floyd, tenor Nathaniel Roper, baritone Thad Shirey, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus, I Cantori and the Bluffton Elementary School Chorus will join the orchestra in the ninth Master Series concert on Monday at Hilton Head's First Presbyterian Church.

The program also will be

given at the Bluffton High School on Saturday.Both performances will begin at 8 p.m.

local ties

Soprano Laura Sutton Floyd first appeared with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in 1999 as a soloist for that season's performance of "Carmina Burana."

Since then she has been a

frequent soloist with the HHSO, including appearing in the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and last season in Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony.She also sings with the Sanctuary Choir at the First Presbyterian Church, appears with Chamber Music Hilton Head and maintains a small

private voice studio. Prior to coming to Hilton Head, she served on the voice faculty of Hope College in Holland, Mich., for 14 years.

On the operatic stage, Thad Shirey's rich baritone has been heard in major operatic roles as well as Broadway and light opera repertoire.

International performances and cruise circuits have brought Shirey to worldwide venues. At home he has appeared as guest artist at Carnegie Hall, with the New York Grand Opera, the Kennett Symphony and the Syracuse Symphony.

Since 1991, the Savannah-based I Cantori, under the direction of founder Robert L. Harris, has specialized in presenting concerts of diverse and unusual choral repertoire. The group has presented a concert devoted to Spanish composers, programs devoted to American composers and performances made up entirely of music by female composers.

The Bluffton School Elementary School Chorus, under the direction of Lisa Kosier will perform the portions of "Carmina Burana" written for a large children's ensemble.