KC Ballet Presents World Premiere of CARMINA BURANA

The 2019-2020 Season opens with the much anticipated WORLD PREMIERE of Adam Hougland's Carmina Burana, featuring the music of Carl Orff. This powerful and passionate dance and choral masterpiece will include Kansas City Symphony and Kansas City Symphony Chorus, featuring soloists Tenor Daniel Hansen, Baritone Armando Contreras, and Soprano Sarah Tannehill Anderson. A hugely popular and insatiably indulgent celebration of life and love, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana is a pulsating choral work that provides an incredible landscape for choreographed spectacle. The most popular piece, O Fortuna!, has permeated popular culture from cartoons to commercials, movies and video games.

These performances also include two audience favorites: Tulips and Lobster by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, which premiered at Johnson County Community College's New Dance Partners in the fall of 2018, and Helen Pickett's Petal - last seen in May 2016. The production will be accompanied by Kansas City Symphony conducted by Kansas City Ballet Music Director Ramona Pansegrau, and runs Oct. 11 through 20 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Adam Hougland last worked with Kansas City Ballet in 2016 when he choreographed the critically acclaimed masterpiece Rite of Spring (set to Stravinsky's work by the same name), which left audiences stunned. "It was during Rite of Spring Devon and I started talking about creating a new Carmina Burana. We saw a Kansas City Symphony performance, and we knew we had to do it," Hougland stated. "This production promises to haunt audiences not only with its intense moments but also with small, intimate moments. Ultimately, this is a very human story."

Devon Carney said: "I am delighted to announce this production, featuring an array of works sure to entice audiences but also to challenge and inspire the talent of our company. I have long been a fan of Adam Hougland's work and am honored and thrilled to welcome his WORLD PREMIERE of Carmina Burana, with a full spectacle of pulsating choral numbers and breathtaking choreography."

Visit www.kcballet.org for more information about Kansas City Ballet's 2019-2020 season and www.kauffmancenter.org for a downloadable media kit about the Kauffman Center. High resolution photos of the 2019-2020 season can be found here.