There’s something about Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, whose thunderous opening chorus “O Fortuna” is one of the most recognizable pieces of classical music ever, that makes you want to pull out all the stops. And that’s just what the Kansas City Ballet plans to do at their season opener that starts on October 12^th at the Kauffman Center. For in addition to the dancers and the Kansas City Symphony in the pit, this performance features three vocal soloists, a chorus of 24 onstage singers, an additional 60 singers from the Kansas City Symphony Chorus supplemented with a 20-member youth choir from Liberty High School, who will occupy all three levels of box seats on either side of the Muriel Kauffman Theatre stage. “It’s not just a dance piece, but it’s a big theatrical piece as well,” says choreographer Toni Pimble, who created her version of Carmina in 1992 on her own company, Eugene Ballet, where she is founding artistic director. KC Ballet fans will remember Toni’s stupendous Concerto Grosso in 2010, the world premiere of which I called “a conceptual and visual feast” in my review. Her Carmina is one of dozens of settings, and one of the best around these days. And of course the Ballet’s commitment to live music means this is going to be a not just a dazzling visual display but also an aural barnstormer. “I’m hoping a get wonderful, huge, antiphonal stereophonic sound out of this,” says the company’s music director Ramona Pansegrau, whose job will be to corral all the forces from her conductor’s perch in the orchestra pit. “I’m looking forward to hearing that first note, it should just ring out in that hall,” she says. “I know it will have its challenges, but it should be very exciting.”

Orff’s 1936 cantata is a setting of 24 Medieval poems in Latin, German and French found in 1803 in a Bavarian monastery that tell of love, life, drinking and faith, often in a highly satirical, irreverent or bawdy manner. “It’s about humanity’s plight,” Toni says, “which relates to people at all times because it relates to our humanity, and to our ability or inability to control our own destiny.” The 24 singers are onstage as a sort of “backdrop” to the dancers, she says, but they do move about in formations and of course they have to memorize the music and the multi-lingual texts. “They’re dressed in monks’ clothes, and they create patterns onstage,” she adds. “They’re a little bit like having ‘moving scenery,’ onstage scenery that happens to sing quite well. … It’s very challenging, and they’re really getting into it.” Toni’s choreography follows closely the individual narratives of each song: For example “In Taberna” is a rousing drinking song for the men, with choreography to match, and the sensual “Si Puer Cum Puellula” (If a Boy and a Girl) features two dancers wearing only a leotard and a pair of tights, “so looking kind of naked as they romp. … There are definitely moments of very strong innuendo.”

Sound like fun? Toni suggested that you might read the poems ahead of time – they can be found easily on the internet by Googling “Carmina Burana texts” – but she says it’s not really necessary because the choreography itself conveys the gist of each song. And there will already be enough sensory overload to this show without the extra struggle of following translations in the theater.

This Carmina is “of a piece,” in that the choreography flows directly from song to song. In fact Ramona says one of the musical challenges will be that, unlike a concert version of Carmina, in this choreographed version there are barely even pauses between numbers. “So you can’t stop and take a second for someone to take a breather, or wipe their brow, or whatever it is you see people doing in concert performances,” Ramona says. “It’s one song right after the other, so musicians like the percussionists are going to be really flying around down there to make that happen.”

A piece on the scale of the hour-long Carmina is a fitting element in what we’ve recently learned will be Ballet artistic directorWilliam Whitener’s 17^th and final season here. “It’s what we would call a standard work, a staple of the repertoire,” William said. “So this will be the third time, and I felt it was time to have a new version for audiences who are familiar with Paula Weber’swonderful rendition.” He says Toni’s Concerto Grosso was “such a positive experience that we thought she would be a good choice for our Carmina.” Ramona adds: “I think most choreographers put it as a kind of a benchmark to tackle, so most of the major choreographers have done one.” Unlike many versions, she adds, “this one is the first one I’ve encountered that actually uses every verse and every section as written.”

William says Toni’s work reflects the breadth of her training in England, where multiple art forms were all on the table. “I go back to her roots, which were thorough and with a broad exposure to the arts. And that’s what makes her a valuable choreographer for a piece like Carmina. She studied Latin as a student. … So she’s very deeply inside the work.” Carmina is also a piece that gives the Ballet a chance to showcase local artists, he adds. “This is a great opportunity to celebrate the artistic talent in this community, and that alone was a terrific way to celebrate 17 years of living here and working here.”

The soloists for Carmina are soprano Sarah Tannehill, baritone Chris Carr and tenor Casey Finnegan. Also on the program areLynne Taylor-Corbett’s intricate Mercury set to Haydn and Ben Stevenson’s End of Time, a poignant pas de deux set to Rachmaninoff that has become a favorite of local audiences.

The KC Ballet’s fall program runs from October 12^th through the 21^st at the Kauffman Center. For tickets call 816-931-2232 or go to kcballet.org.

To reach Paul Horsley, performing arts editor, send email to phorsley@sbcglobal.net. You can also read his columns and reviews at kcindependent.com.