Passion of Joan of Arc PuSH Performance Excerpt

With the haunting face of actress Renée Falconetti playing the doomed Joan of Arc as inspiration, Vancouver-based composer Stefan Smulovitz has written a luminous score to accompany Carl Dreyer's 1928 silent film,The Passion of Joan of Arc. Performed by the Eye of Newt Ensemble, this PuSh Festival commissioned piece for ten musicians includes text by Colin Browne and combines the stunning voice of Viviane Houle with the city's top instrumentalists and Christ Church Cathedral's legendary pipe organ, in a sublime tribute to one of film's most enduring performances.

A cinematic pièce de résistance, The Passion of Joan of Arc details the uncompromised devotion and tragic end of France's most famous martyr. Shot almost entirely in close-ups, this intensely intimate film cuts to the heart of faith, human choice and truth.

"The light enters in the name of the voice." -- Joan of Arc

An active composer, improviser, violist and laptop artist, Smulovitz's eclectic creative undertakings run the gamut from film and installation, to theatre and dance. Widely known for the legendary Silent Summer Nightsextravaganzas, Smulovitz and his Eye of Newt Ensemble have collaborated with the PuSh Festival on a number of projects that include The General, Dreams, Beauty and The Beast, and Go West.

PREMIERE

Commissioned by the PuSh Festival with the assistance of the British Columbia Arts Council

Composer Stefan Smulovitz
Text Colin Browne
Voice Viviane Houle
Trumpet JP Carter, John Korsrud
Trombone Jeremy Berkman
Violin Rebecca Whitling, Cam Wilson
Viola Reg Quiring
Cello Peggy lee
Percussion Daniel Tones
Pipe Organ Michael Murray
Conductor Giorgio Magnanensi

Category:

Music

Tags:

• silent
• film
• soundtrack