O Fortuna
An Exhibition of artwork inspired by Carmina Burana May 17-25, 2007 Seef Mall, Manama
'OFortuna", was an exhibition of a series of paintings inspired by Carl Orff's choral masterpiece, Carmina Burana. I was the chairman ot the Manama SIngers at the time, and designed the posters (see right) for our concert of Carmina. It started me on a fascinating journey trying to find a visual expression of the magnificent music and evocative medieval lyrics that we were singing. The Culture Vultures, (a wonderful group of women in Bahrain who promote cultural events) saw some of my first attempts and proposed an art exhibition of work inspired by Carmina Burana to run in association with the concert. Three other artists joined me, and we showed our work in the beautiful new light space of Seef Mall for a week before the concert,, and moved it to the foyer of the Crowne Plaza on the evening of the performance. It was a great experience.
The piece to the left, "Salit cetum avium" is one of my favourites.
It is a large mixed media collage, 110 X150 cm, inspired by the 3rd movement, Veris leta facies, (The merry face of spring) .
Some of the lyrics translate as:
The joyful meadows are laugh ing in flowers.
A flock of birds rises up.
Through the pleasant forests a chorus of maidens
already promises a thousand joys! Ah....
Wonderful sensual stuff!, written over 600 years ago. Amazing!
I f you are interested to learn more about the show, please visit the Carmina Gallery page.
The artists, Manuella Mavromichchallis, myself, Giuse Maggi and Erika Rawles during the hanging of "O Fortuna" May 16,'07
