Tito Muñoz Begins His Inaugural Season with Sandra Day O’Connor
The Phoenix Symphony launches its 2014/15 season and Virginia G. Piper Music Director Tito Muñoz’ inaugural season with Carl Orff’s Carmina burana on September 19 and 20 at Symphony Hall. For this special occasion, Sandra Day O’Connor, Former Supreme Court Justice and prominent supporter of arts in Arizona, will conduct our nation’s national anthem before Sept. 20’s concert.
Audiences are invited to witness a historic weekend with The Phoenix Symphony as Maestro Tito Muñoz makes his debut as the Symphony’s eleventh Virginia G. Piper Music Director. Maestro Muñoz leads a powerful program with the majestic and scenic cantata, Carmina burana, featuring the famous “O’Fortuna” movement heard in numerous movie and television commercial scores. The Phoenix Symphony is joined by The Phoenix Symphony Chorus, the Phoenix Boys Choir, and features soloists soprano Mary MacKenzie, tenor Christopher Pfund, and baritone Corey McKern.
This 1936 cantata is based on a set of poems and dramatic texts from the 11th through 13th centuries that deal with subject matter such as greed, love, lust and gluttony. Upon its debut, Orff’s Carmina burana attained instant success and continues to be one of the most oft-performed classical works in the repertoire. This magical program also features Igor Stravinsky’s adventurous Firebird Suite, a masterwork of personal significance to Maestro Muñoz. “I am eager to bring on of my personal favorite pieces of music to Phoenix, The Suite from The Firebird, which is one of the first pieces of orchestral repertoire I learned in my youth, alongside the majestic and celebrated Carmina burana,” says Muñoz.
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