Aurea Carmina is an extensive work (lasting nearly twenty minutes) scored for soloists, orchestra, and choir (including a children's choir). It was composed in 1988 upon a prestigious commission from the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

The opera's text is drawn from the legendary Golden Verses attributed to Pythagoras, whose exact dating and literary origins remain shrouded in mystery. Consisting of 71 verses in dactylic hexameter, this text represents the only written material linked to the Greek philosopher and mathematician, who left no writings of his own. Rich with moral exhortations, these verses were later adopted by the Neoplatonic school as part of their preparatory studies in ethics.