CAST:

GIOVANNA D’ARCO
Sophie Gordeladze ⋅ soprano

CARLO VII.
Héctor Sandoval ⋅ tenor

GIACOMO
Luca Grassi ⋅ baritone
Giovanna’s father

DELIL
Martin Piskorski ⋅ tenor
a French officer

TALBOT
Rory Dunne ⋅ bass-baritone
an English commander

CAPPELLA AQUILEIA
Orchestra of Heidenheim Opera Festival

CZECH PHILHARMONIC CHOIR OF BRNO
Festival Choir

EXTRAS
Svetlana Loutsa, Lea Reinhardt

MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Marcus Bosch

DIRECTOR
Ulrich Proschka

STAGE & COSTUME DESIGNER
Lena Scheerer

LIGHTING DESIGNER
Hartmut Litzinger

DRAMATIC ADVISER
Gerhard Herfeldt

CHORUS MASTER
Petr Fiala

CHOIR REHEARSALS
Michael Dvořák

ABOUT:

Giuseppe Verdi wanted his seventh opera to be passionate, fiery and action-packed, and he wanted a real prima donna to take centre stage. He found the ideal subject in one of the most famous female figures in world history: Joan of Arc. Verdi was highly satisfied with Temistocle Solera’s libretto. It was, he wrote in August 1844, ‘almost of an unusual beauty’. In fact, the title role brings a special radiance to the opera, which is not necessarily one of the composer’s most prominent roles on the repertoire today. However, it was celebrated by the premiere audience, and the day after the premiere Verdi wrote to his friend Francesco Maria Piave: ‘Without exception and without doubt, it is the best of my operas’. A few successful performances followed, but then the work faded into the shadows of Verdi’s later, even more famous operas. It is high time to bring it back to light!

OPUS KLASSIK
Opera Recording of the Year

PRESS:

Gramophone (UK)
„Conductor Marcus Bosch maintains a healthy balance between giving singers what they need but keeping a vital, headlong pace … thanks also to the excellent, theatrically adept Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno – the opera is gripping indeed.“

Feuilletonscout (Stephan Reimertz)
“First and foremost, praise is due to the intrepid conductor Marcus Bosch, Capella Aquileia, and the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, who, while keeping their eyes firmly on the big picture, never overlook any of the loving details with which Verdi enriched his opera.”

concerti.de
„Marcus Bosch and his orchestra are committed to historically informed performance practice, which decisively breaks with clichés of sound and, with the utmost sophistication, expressive articulation, and abstinence from vibrato, makes the unheard-of sounds of early Romanticism audible.“

nmz (DE)
“Over several festival years, Marcus Bosch has developed a distinctly individual Verdi sound for the 21st century.”

OnlyStage (UK)
„Musically, it is a pure joy: the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno and the Cappella Aquileia under Marcus Bosch embody the spirit, drive, and constant sense of spontaneity required for the young Verdi.“

Opernwelt (DE)
„Power and delusion…All the more astonishing are the nuances and effects that Marcus Bosch and his brilliantly disposed Cappella Aquileia brought out of the often very coarse music. Bosch, the soul and driving force behind the festival, is certainly the most inspiring German Verdi conductor after Will Humburg. He strives for a lean, bright sound that nevertheless does not seem motoric, but rather gives space to the instrumental colors of the woodwinds, for example, as well as the melancholic breaks in the harmony. Bosch phrases gesturally, accompanies in a singer-friendly manner, and enlivens the meter with breathing rubati without becoming sentimental. With him, the piece remains convincing even where it sags musically.“

Heidenheimer Zeitung (DE)
„The Cappella Aquileia under Marcus Bosch was in top form. The ease with which they conveyed the splendor and colorfulness of the music was a mature achievement and a good example of how the Cappella Aquileia has developed. (…) There was thunderous applause for about fifteen minutes, often given standing up.“

BIOS:

Marcus Bosch

Cappella Aquileia

Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno

The Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno was founded in 1990 by its musical director, composer and conductor Petr Fiala and is today considered as one of the most sought-after professional ensembles across Europe. In 2007, the choir received an ECHO Klassik award for the best vocal ensemble of the year with their a cappella recording of Bruckner’s motets.
The CD recording featuring Liszt’s Christus with the Beethovenorchester Bonn under the direction of Roman Kofman also received an ECHO Klassik award for the best recording of the year. The choir received the Classic Prague Award for the best vocal performance in 2019. The repertoire of the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno includes oratorios, cantatas and operas. At the beginning of 2022, Michael Dvořák was appointed as assistant con-ductor. The ensemble gives around 90 concerts each year. The choir is a regular guest at nume rous international festivals including in Linz, Munich, Lucerne, Basel, Frankfurt, London at the BBC Proms, Rheingau, Passau, Heidenheim as choir in residence since 2015, Milan, Rome, Paris, Grafenegg and Prague and Brno. In the Czech Republic, the ensemble works regularly with all major orchestras. The choir has been conducted by musicians such as Jiří Bìlohlávek, Sir Charles Mackerras, Zubin Mehta, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Kurt Masur, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sir Simon Rattle, Iván Fischer and Christian Thielemann. The choir receives support from the region South Moravia, the Czech Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the city of Brno.

TRACKLIST: