Carmina Burana at the Arena: 400 players between orchestra, chorus, white voices and soloists

On Friday, 15 August, for one single date, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana resounds among the million-year old stones of the Arena di Verona. The scenic cantata sees a colossal presence on the immense stage: as many as 400 orchestra members (with a rich section of percussion and pianos), chorus singers, prepared by Maestro Roberto Gabbiani, and white voices of A.Li.Ve. and A.d'A.Mus.

At the Arena di Verona, Carmina Burana, now popular and much loved, was a late arrival, only eleven years ago, but since then has been successfully re-proposed four times. For the single performance of 2025, Andrea Battistoni, a conductor from Verona with an international career, is back on the podium. He is currently principal conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic and musical director of the Teatro Regio in Turin, as well as the most recurrent conductor of Orff's masterpiece in the Arena since its premiere in 2014.

Three prominent soloists are also required for the vocal acrobatics devised by Orff: the baritone, great ceremonialist of the extraordinary ode to life, will be the acclaimed Youngjun Park; the ironic Dying Swan song requires the very sharp interweaving of a tenor in falsetto or the full vocality of a countertenor, which will be provided by specialist Raffaele Pe, the first invited for the role of this vocality in Arena. Finally, a soprano voice embodies the eternal feminine between sweetness and starry heights: the pieces will be sung by the American Erin Morley, much-acclaimed last year in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Gilda in Rigoletto.

A world of sound, created in the 1930s, of ancient and modern texture: a spectacular cantata taken from the Goliardic songs of the clerici vagantes (wandering clergy) of the Late Middle Ages, discovered in the library of the Bavarian monastery of Benediktbeuern (formerly Bura Sancti Benedicti); only twenty years later was it discovered how to interpret the melodies contained in the original parchment. From this poetic collection, composer and teacher Carl Orff chose twenty-four pieces in Latin, Provençal, Middle High German and translated them into a language that looked as much at Stravinsky's barbaric and experimental sounds as at a more immediate tonal language, with the thousand colours of a very rich orchestration, in a dramaturgical path that praises love and the earthly joys of life. The cantata opens and closes with the famous image of Fortune, a wheel on which the destinies of humanity alternate.

The show, which will adopt a new lighting design, will last about 70 minutes without interval.

Tickets for Carmina Burana are on sale on arena.it, on the social media channels of the Arena di Verona, on Ticketone and from the Ticket Offices of via Dietro Anfiteatro and via Roma. There are special reductions for under-30s and over-65s.

The 2025 Arena di Verona Opera Festival is supported by numerous sponsors, first and foremost UniCredit, whose partnership with the Festival goes back over 25 years. Other sponsors include Calzedonia, Pastificio Rana, Volkswagen Group Italia, DB Bahn, Forno Bonomi, Numia, RTL 102.5, Genny - providers of the uniforms worn by the staff that welcome the public - and Müller, which supports accessibility projects for people with disabilities. Official partners include historic brands such as Veronafiere, Air Dolomiti, A4 Holding, Metinvest, SABA Italia, SDG Group, Sartori di Verona, Palazzo Maffei and Mantova Village. Also on board are Caviar Service, ManPower Group, Consorzio di Tutela dell’Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP and Ferroli. In addition to companies and private individuals, the partners also include the professional associations that form part of 67 Colonne per l'Arena di Verona, founded by Gianluca Rana of the pasta company of the same name and Sandro Veronesi, patron of the Oniverse Group, with Gruppo Editoriale Athesis as media partner.