The first half of the program, "Old American Songs," featured two soloists baritone Evan Ross '13 and soprano Amber Dewey '12 performing lively folk music, including the minstrel song "The Boatman's Dance" and the children's song "I Bought Me a Cat." These songs serve as sharp contrasts to the powerful "Carmina Burana" that followed.
"The American Songs' were written around the same time, but they have a completely different feel with routes in folk music," conductor Louis Burkot said.
"Carmina Burana," translated as "Songs of Benediktbeuren," is an hour-long collection of 12th-century ecclesiastical poems set to music, Burkot said.
"The American songs are in English," Burkot said. "I thought it would be great for the audience to hear something in their own language."
Two decades before Copland arranged "Old American Songs," Orff adapted the Bavarian monastery poems "Carmina Burana" into a selection titled "O fortuna valut luna" or "Oh wheel of fortune," in 1935, according to a Hopkins Center press release. Written in a combination of Latin and German, the poems connect to form a storyline that revolves around a wheel of fortune with the message that one cannot change the course of life, according to Burkot.
"Carmina' is a very dramatic and epic piece that features the very famous O Fortuna' chorus, found in both the beginning and the end," Glee Club president Alex Engler '12 said. "It is very somber and hypnotic, an almost trance-like piece."
"Carmina Burana" is a program with which Burkot has been familiar since his own years as a student and singer, and he decided on this program because this year's senior class is "particularly strong," Burkot said.
"I thought it would be wonderful to have my students exposed to soloists who have to sing things that are extraordinarily challenging, but compelling," Burkot said. "It is a great crowd pleaser, and it sounds fantastic with excellent voices that are of the right quality and maturity."
Burkot has performed "Carmina Burana" with the Glee Club twice before, once in the early 1980s and once in the late 1990s.
"Although this group is the smallest, in some ways it is the most accomplished because there is such an evenly distributed talent level," Burkot said.
Burkot works with young professional singers outside of his work at Dartmouth, and having worked with many over the years, he selected three soloists he thought would be particularly well-suited for "Carmina Burana:" tenor William Dwyer, baritone Jeffrey Goble and soprano Alexandra Batsios.
"The soloists are wonderful, and the students can get a lot from listening to them," Burkot said.
Although there were very few rehearsals, the Glee Club made efficient use of their term, according to Engler.
"We have only had four weeks of rehearsal this term," Engler said. "This past week we added some of the parts in bit by bit as the soloists and percussion joined us."
The solid foundation that the choir built by rehearsing alone gave them sufficient grasp of the musical score to collaborate with the orchestra and the soloists, who only joined them on Saturday just before the performance.
"Our rehearsals were very efficient because our director is already thinking about the orchestra when we rehearse by ourselves, or with just piano and percussion," Dewey said.
Throughout the season, Burkot maintains a high level of professionalism but still knows how to have fun, according to Engler.
"[Burkot] brings a lot of energy to rehearsals, and we bring a lot back it is a very two-way helping relationship," Engler said. "I remember my first rehearsal freshman fall. It was amazing how we went in and just sang through three movements."
Burkot encourages the members to rely on their own vocal strengths because they will unify naturally when a variety of voices come together.
"He encourages us to be healthy, individual singers in the context of the group, and that is really conducive to growing as a singer," Dewey said.
Burkot said he appreciates the limited time that Dartmouth students have and their varied commitments.
"They are very good at keeping me abreast of any conflicts and if they miss rehearsal, they are very eager to know what they have missed," Burkot said. "I don't like to waste anyone's time, so we get in there and work for a solid hour and 40 minutes."
To aid in maximizing rehearsal efficiency, upperclassmen take on leadership roles within each vocal part, guiding the other members through the rehearsal process, according to Engler.
"Our joint goal is to make good music and grow as singers," Engler said. "This is our time to really develop as performers and artists and I feel privileged to be able to perform such great masterpieces."
A few members were skeptical about the pairing of the "Old American Songs" with "Carmina Burana," but their concerns dissipated during rehearsal.
"We are all very close and I think that comes across in our performance," Anne Ressler '14 said.
Guest soloist Goble, who sang "one of the most difficult baritone solos" in "Carmina Burana" said even he found the Carmina "extremely challenging" but still "very worthwhile."
"The Glee Club is an outstanding group very prepared, very professional," Goble said. "I am very impressed with how they managed to sing something that is meant for a 100-person choir they are all trained singers who know how to fill the sound completely."
The orchestra that peformed with the Glee Club is composed of local professionals, Dartmouth professors and some Dartmouth students, according to Burkot.
"What sustains you no matter how difficult [the music] is letting your emotions flow through the air and connect with an entire audience," Goble said. "Creating art onstage is really what it all comes down to."
The Glee Club blended well with the guest soloists and orchestra even though most of their rehearsals were done independently, according to Burkot. From freshmen to seniors, the Glee Club integrates all of its members into the ensemble, despite the competitiveness of the audition process, he said.
"I have been in choir for 12 years, and the Dartmouth Glee Club is exactly what I'm looking for," Casey Lewis '15 said. "It's a pretty congenial atmosphere, but we get a lot done. I love all the people, and it went really well."
Burkot has been director of the Glee Club for 31 years and worked previously at Yale School of Music. After a great deal of experience working with students, he said his role as the conductor of the Glee Club at Dartmouth feels natural.
"My favorite part of working with students is that in the four years that they are undergrads in college, their physical bodies, intellectual and emotional capacities all grow immensely in artistic potential," Burkot said.
The students make great leaps in their years at Dartmouth as they "unleash" their artistic potential, he added.
Additionally, Burkot has a personality that is "easy to connect to," according to Nia Foney '15, one of Burkot's students.
"Our group chemistry is definitely getting better and I can't wait for the spring," she said.
As part of their hectic schedule, the Glee Club is booked to tour Southern California over spring break, according to Burkot.
