Thursday, January 07, 2010

DO NOT MISS THIS! Passion Of Joan Of Arc with live score / Passion Project


Three weeks until THE PASSION PROJECT opens at Pacific Theatre (Wed Jan 27), and I want to make sure nobody misses an amazing PuSH Festival event the next night (Thu Jan 28) - a complete screening of Dreyer's silent film masterpiece THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC accompanied by the premiere of a brand new score for the film, commissioned by the PuSH Festival and performed live under the direction of composer Stefan Smulovitz.

Your best bet? Get tickets for THE PASSION PROJECT at Pacific Theatre, either the 7pm or 9pm showing of the opening night performance, and make sure to be in the theatre between shows for a 7:45 artist talk with Reid Farrington (who created PP) and composer Stefan Smulovitz - two cutting edge contemporary artists who are intimately familiar with the Dreyer film, having interpreted it through their own artistic expressions. ALSO get tickets for the screening of the film itself at Christ Church Cathedral the following evening - one night only! Alternately, book your tickets for the screening first, then follow it up with THE PASSION PROJECT on Friday 29 or Saturday 30. Either way, this is a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to immerse yourself in what may be the great silent film of all time, almost certainly the hallmark of spiritual cinema in the silent era.


“Men are sometimes hanged for telling the truth.” – Joan of Arc

THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC
by Carl Theodor Dreyer
with original live performance score by Stefan Smulovitz

Screening: January 28, 8pm, Christ Church Cathedral
Artist talk: January 27, 7:45pm, Pacific Theatre with Stefan Smulovitz and Reid Farrington of The Passion Project

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

With the haunting face of actress Maria 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 Nights extravaganzas, 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

Tickets $25
Tickets Tonight ticketstonight.ca 604.684.2787
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