“Enthralling” - The London Evening Standard

"An exceptional achievement" - The Guardian

Joan of Arc is coming to town on Thursday, March 30 and Friday, March 31.

On Thursday, March 30th at 8pm in Old Cabell Hall Theodor Dreyer’s silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc will be screened with live soundtrack by the Orlando Consort.  The performance is $12 for the general public and free for UVA students, faculty and staff. Tickets can be reserved at the UVA Arts Box Office at www.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu or 434.924.3376.

“Voices Appeared: La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc and the Orlando Consort” is a live multimedia performance and historical reconstruction of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc. “Voices Appeared” features live musical accompaniment to the film, curated and performed by the Orlando Consort. Inspired by Joan of Arc’s gnomic description of angels appearing before her, “Voices Appeared” reconciles the silent film medium with Joan’s narrative experience of hearing voices. The project uses vocal works from the early part of the fifteenth century, when Joan was alive and active, providing historical context as well as musical commentary on her psyche while in captivity, especially as a gender and religious minority figure.

Cited as “simultaneously ravishing and reverential” by the Los Angeles Times and “enthralling” by The London Evening Standard, the Orlando Consort, formed in 1988 by the Early Music Network of Great Britain, is one of Europe’s most expert and consistently challenging groups performing repertoire from the years 1050 to 1550. Their work successfully combines captivating entertainment and fresh scholarly insight. The unique imagination and originality of their programming, together with their superb vocal skills, has marked the Consort out as the outstanding leaders of their field. More information at http://www.orlandoconsort.com/.

The film screening is followed by a day long symposium entitled "Joan of Arc/Afterlives" that will explore the reception of Joan and the many roles Joan has played in world culture. Joan's many lives have included playing the role of heretic and sexual ingénue, icon of the American feminist movement and symbol of the ultra right in France, victim of the patriarchal establishment and the face of the transgender movement. How can one individual of whom we know so little (and then only through court transcripts and rumor) fulfill so many modern desires? These roles and many others will be the subject of discussion during the symposium that will bring together internationally recognized specialists of Joan of Arc with members of the UVA community who will engage with the histories, mythologies, and representations of Joan from the vantage point of their own disciplines.

Presenters include:  Robin Blaetz (Film Studies, Mount Holyoke); Terry Castle (English, Stanford University);  Anne Coughlin (UVA School of Law); Corinne Field (Women’s and Gender Studies, UVA); Carmenita Higginbotham (Art History, UVA); Jolanta Komornicka (History, UVA); Deborah McGrady (French, UVA); Françoise Meltzer (Philosophies of Religion, Divinity School, University of Chicago ) and Jennifer Tsien (French, UVA)

The conference was developed by Bonnie Gordon (UVA Music), Deborah McGrady (UVA French) and Sarah Betzer (UVA Art).  The three colleagues were moved by the spectacular performance by the Orlando Consort and its potential as a teaching moment.  They saw the performance as a gorgeous way to introduce film audiences to early music.  The event will also feature flash seminars and other events geared to introduce undergraduates to the delightful strangeness of Joan of Arc’s historical and artistic afterlives.

“Voices Appeared” is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Vice Provost for the Arts. The collaboration between the Department of French, McIntire Department of Art and McIntire Department of Music is co-sponsored by the American Studies Program, Corcoran Department of History,  Department of English, Department of Religious Studies, Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures,  The Medieval Studies Program and Women, Gender & Sexuality.

Joan of Arc/Afterlives

The film screening is paired with a symposium entitled "Joan of Arc/Afterlives" that will explore the reception of Joan and the many roles Joan has played in world culture. Joan's many lives have included playing the role of heretic and sexual ingénue, icon of the American feminist movement and symbol of the ultra right in France, victim of the patriarchal establishment and the face of the transgender movement. How can one individual of whom we know so little (and then only through court transcripts and rumor) fulfill so many modern desires? These roles and many others will be the subject of discussion during the symposium that will bring together internationally recognized specialists of Joan of Arc with members of the UVA community who will engage with the histories, mythologies, and representations of Joan from the vantage point of their own disciplines.
 

Robin Blaetz (Film Studies, Mount Holyoke)

Terry Castle (English, Stanford University)

Anne Coughlin (UVA School of Law)

Corinne Field (Women’s and Gender Studies, UVA)

Carmenita Higginbotham (Art History, UVA)

Jolanta Komornicka (History, UVA)

Deborah McGrady (French, UVA)
Françoise Meltzer (Philosophies of Religion, Divinity School, University of Chicago)

Jennifer Tsien (French, UVA)

The event will also feature flash seminars and other events geared to introduce undergraduates to the delightful strangeness of Joan of Arc’s historical and artistic afterlives.

“Voices Appeared” is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Vice Provost for the Arts. The collaboration between the Department of French, McIntire Department of Art and McIntire Department of Music is co-sponsored by the American Studies Program, Corcoran Department of History,  Department of English, Department of Religious Studies, Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures,  The Medieval Studies Program and Women, Gender & Sexuality.