Carmina Burana centrepiece of Stewkley Singers spring concert as choir joined by soloists, orchestra and singers as young as five

The choir, conducted by their musical director Jenny Morgan, were joined by professional soloists Sarah Helsby-Hughes, Peter Coleman and Vincent Pirillo, plus the Wigmore Chamber Orchestra and Leighton Buzzard Young Singers.

The Leighton Buzzard Young Singers performed the segments of Carmina Burana designed for a children’s choir, with some of the performers aged as young as five.

Carmina Burana is a cantata by Orff based on 24 poems from a medieval collection of the same name.

The work covers themes including the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the joy of the return of spring and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling and lust.

The first half of the concert featured three other works - the overture to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s comic opera The Marriage of Figaro, the Song of Destiny, a short work by composer Johannes Brahms, and English composer William Boyce’s second symphony.

The Stewkley Singers were formed in 2006 and this year will be celebrating their 20th birthday season.

During the choir’s 20th birthday season they have two more concerts planned in Leighton Buzzard - one in December featuring works by Britten, Poulenc and Vaughan Williams, and one in May 2026 with a performance of Mozart’s Great C Minor Mass.

To find out more about the choir and how you can get involved visit their website.