Best Crying in a Theater, Part 1: Voices of Light: The Passion of Joan of Arc

Nov. 18-19, 2016

Knowles Memorial Chapel

bachfestivalflorida.org

Last November brought a once-in-a-lifetime live communal experience when composer Richard Einhorn supervised a live choral/orchestra rendition of his heart-rending score to Carl Dreyer's silent film classic. In the Knowles chapel's grandiosely gothic environs, massed voices and orchestral instrumentation accompanied impressionistic visuals. Lighting was minimal, but the atmosphere was breathtaking – and despite Einhorn's sweeping hymnal melancholy, it was the soul-grinding pain in the eyes of Renee Falconetti as Joan that hit the hardest. Sweetest hurt. (See our feature on Voices of Light here.)