Latest news with #OFortuna
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
A medley of bold strokes and bright colours at art expo
A medley of bold brush strokes, bright colours and angular shapes, often reminiscent of the expressionist style, define the art of Alain Gambier, who goes by the moniker A* Gaambal. An expo — 'Glut 0.2 Fraternité, où es-tu?' (Brotherhood, Where are You?) — showcases a selection of the French artist's works at the Alliance Francaise. Though he sometimes resorts to figurative art, his preferred style is abstract. The artist believes that an abstract work of art has the capacity to trigger unbounded interpretations in the viewers. And, in life as in art, he has this uncanny ability to shift from artivist to a free spirit always looking to spread fun and laughter. Not surprising for someone who takes his life code from the Charlie Chaplin maxim 'A day without laughter is a day wasted,' finding and spreading joy and happiness is central to his artistic pursuits. A spinoff of this has been a fun video series titled 'Glut' that evolved 'as a family play with art and words'. A Glut logo was designed by his artist-nephew Koumar David as a sort of signature to mark out his body of artworks. It wasn't long before a Glut YouTube channel was launched to present some of his work in a comical-absurdist mode, where 'the artwok itself is a character'. A. Gaamblar is quite in his elements when he forays into the realm of the absurd as he does in some of these art-based video segments. In one such segment, the artist pretend-pushes on a painting of vertical piano keys to the background score of 'O Fortuna', a medieval poem from the 13th century Carmina Burana collection that was set to music by German composer Carl Orff. For him, in this ongoing mad world, absurd is what can re-open the field of possibilities. The absurd and art combined make the frontiers between living beings vanish and lead to the surge of shared happiness, he feels. The artist is also popular for establishing the Glutotel Homestay, a boutique eco-living space near Auroville, featuring unique 'Glut' rooms with teak woodwork and lit up by art works. One of his works has also been used as illustration for a new French work of fiction, 'Les Etats D'âme Du Caméléon' of his spouse, Yamouna David, past practicising lawyer at the Paris Bar and daughter of former Madras High Court Judge and author David Annoussamy. In order to raise the fun quotient and make the expo more participatory, the artist, along with the hosts, have organised a fun contest where a reward awaits visitors who come up with the fancy titles for the contemporary art works. The best title tip will get a prize at the valedictory of the expo on August 6.
Edmonton Journal
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Edmonton choir breaks into Oilers-themed song to finish last performance
Article content Transforming the gladiatorial sounding O Fortuna into an Oilers-themed rally song for their encore at the Winspear, Edmonton's Chorus Inspira closed out its last seasonal performance on Sunday in style to raucous applause from the crowd in support of both the Oilers and the ensemble alike. 'A year ago, I thought, well, if they can be in the finals or the playoffs again this year, we're gonna make sure that we do an encore that's Oilers themed,' said Chorus Inspira artistic director and conductor, Tim Shantz.
CTV News
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
'O Fortuna' with an Oilers twist
Chorus Inspira, formerly known as the Richard Eaton Singers, performed an Oilers-themed version of the famous song "O Fortuna" at the Winspear Centre on Sunday.
CTV News
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
‘O(ilers) Fortuna': Edmonton choir cheers Oilers on like only a choir can
Edmonton is cheering for the Oilers to take the lead again in the Stanley Cup Final, including the Chorus Inspira, in an octave all their own. The group, formerly known as the Richard Eaton Singers, rewrote the lyrics of the classic song O Fortuna to give the song an Oilers spin. 'Number one fans! Filling the stands! Proud to wear o-range and blue,' the choir sings. The famous song by Carl Orff is about the inescapable nature of fate, a force that Tim Shantz, the artistic director of Chorus Inspira, believes is on Edmonton's side in the Stanley Cup Final. He and his wife came up with the new lyrics, making sure to include all the starters. 'I've actually done different lyrics with this before, I know it's hard to say, even for the Calgary Flames when I lived in Calgary, but I was always an Oilers fan,' Shantz said. His favourite part in the song is 'Goodbye Tkachuk! We'll win the cup!' The performance was a surprise part of the encore for the audience at the Winspear Centre on Sunday where Chorus Inspira performed Carmina Burana, which O Fortuna is a part of. 'All the singers enjoyed sort of taking this on as an encore after just performing the piece,' Shantz said. 'It's great to get the response from the crowd too … It's really fun for us.' Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final takes Place Friday in Florida. If the Oilers win, they may want to consider adding O Fortuna to their victory playlist.
The National
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Carmina Burana review: Modern take on medieval musings is raw, ungainly, but ultimately infused with joy
You don't have to be a ballet buff to recognise the opening bars of Carmina Burana, currently being staged at Dubai Opera until May 24. Ominous and powerful, the music of O Fortuna - that opens and closes this ballet - has become instantly familiar thanks to its overuse on the silver screen. It has been used in Excalibur (1981) The Doors (1991) and Natural Born Killers (1994) - plus countless advertisements, from instant coffee and Old Spice aftershave to Gatorade. So famous is its opening fanfare, in fact, that any performance risks being upstaged by its own overture. Yet, at Dubai Opera — where Carl Orff's piece is being staged by Edward Clug, the artistic director of the Slovenian National Ballet — the sparse, sinuous production ignores the cliche and returns the music to what it is: an exploration of the human spirit. Clug's interpretation is so visually and emotionally arresting that he is able to restore the music to its rightful place of being terrifyingly beautiful. Composed in 1936 by Orff, Carmina Burana is inspired by 11th and 12th century Bavarian manuscripts, written by hedonistic, wandering student-poets known as goliards. Although scholars now question this attribution, it remains a meditation on the human experience: the intoxication of love and the absurdities of life, against the omnipresent hand of fate. Divided into chapters, each deal with a different emotion that remains as relevant today as when it was written 700 years ago. Love, sensuality, the awakening of earthly pleasures, as well as cynicism, spiritual desolation and parody, are all overshadowed by fortune's wheel that hangs menacingly over the stage. This circular motif is repeated through the dance too - as a tightly packed circle, each dancer leaning on the next; as a vast loop covering the stage, the dancers linked just the tips of their fingers; or as individuals, who spin in tight, compact spirals. It signals the ticking of time and a continuous thread that binds us all together. The entire set is likewise a giant circle, part halo, part enclosure and ever-present. Sometimes playful, as when two dancers embrace in a field of legs, moving in the breeze. It can be foreboding, descending almost onto the dancer's heads, this reduction echoing the poem's monastic origins. Yet, despite the brevity, this is a work of surprising tenderness and sensuality, as well as wit, such as when the dancers shiver with insect-like twitches. Clug's taut choreography is beautiful, as a tender embrace, and also difficult to watch, as awkward flailings or rigid tension. It is also demanding, with the dancers, led by Evgenija Koskina, and a 30-strong cast, including Asami Nakashima, Catarina De Meneses and Tijuana Krizman Hudernik, on stage almost every moment. But the raw essence of humanity being laid bare before us is what makes Clug's staging so powerful – it is raw, ungainly and ugly, but also exquisite and infused with joy. Despite the incidental fame of O Fortuna, the rest of the piece is grounded in an almost medieval spirituality that is powerful and sinewy to behold. Clug's work is a reminder that great art, when entrusted to the right hands, will always be astonishing. Carmina Burana is at Dubai Opera until May 24.
