One of the most widely performed works for chorus and orchestra in the twentieth century: Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Composed by Carl Orff in 1936, Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata based on a collection of 13th-century poems found in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern. The text, written in Medieval Latin, Middle High German, and Old Provençal, explores themes of fortune, fate, love, and the cyclical nature of life. Orff's composition is renowned for its powerful rhythms, bold harmonies, and dramatic intensity. The opening and closing movement, "O Fortuna," with its thunderous and evocative chorus, has become one of the most iconic pieces in classical music. The work is structured into three main sections: "Springtime," "In the Tavern," and "The Court of Love," each vividly bringing to life the passions and unpredictability of the human experience. "Carmina Burana" is celebrated for its raw energy and primal force, making it a captivating and enduring staple of the choral and orchestral repertoire.
 

Dr. Joshua Wentz moved to Los Angeles in 2016 to take a position as a music professor at Los Angeles Mission College, a Hispanic-serving institution of higher learning, in Sylmar. Almost immediately, he realized that the students coming into his music classes from the NE San Fernando Valley were seriously lacking in musical background, experience, and education. He wondered why students over the years were coming to college less prepared and struggling to do well academically. After some research, he realized that most of the feeder schools in and around Sylmar didn't have strong music programs — many had no music programs at ALL!

This was a major factor that helped Wentz realize the need for music education in the SFV and led to the creation of Mission Opera. This lack of music education, paired with the absence of performance opportunities and hands-on training for community college students, helped the realization that Mission Opera could target and help multiple disadvantaged communities. Mission Opera is a performing arts education nonprofit who produces 3-4 full, mainstage operas each year. Also, our Boxtop Opera Educational Outreach program serves part of our mission to go into low-funded schools in and around LA to teach children about opera and classical music, through live performances with three singers, a pianist and a sound tech with a "box" of props and costume pieces. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we had various types of instrumental and vocal music online programs and went into over a dozen local schools to assist teachers in teaching music - a hard-to-covert discipline - during the pandemic.

Mission Opera strives to produce high-quality, accessible opera and musical theater, to provide members of the community the opportunity to participate at all levels of these productions, and to afford both participants and audiences enjoyment and a deeper appreciation of opera and musical theater.

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