In the grips of the Hundred Years War against England, the French find themselves in a difficult situation: Paris has fallen, Orléans is besieged, and their king, Charles VII, appears more interested in his affairs of the heart than those of the state. In this hopeless situation, the farmer's daughter Joan announces that God has commissioned her to liberate Orléans. The ‘Maid of Orléans’ may be victorious in battle but loses her heart in passion to a Burgundian knight, Lionel. The flames consume a woman torn between love and her divine mission.
Inspired by Schiller’s tragedy, Tchaikovsky wrote The Maid of Orleans about the famous French heroine between 1878 and 1879. While Schiller sees her as an innocent, momentarily tempted by love for Lionel, Tchaikovsky permits Joan to indulge fully in her love and then die in religious ecstasy. Here is a historical heroine with something of the Tatyana from Eugene Onegin about her. Tchaikovsky’s score is filled with the same passion, with orchestral tumult, grand choruses, and beautiful arias, many reserved for Joan herself. Deutsche Oper am Rhein’s 2023 production has been ecstatically received by audiences and critics alike for Elisabeth Stöppler’s powerful staging (of an opera with quite some dramatic challenges) and for the outstanding performance of Maria Kataeva as the heroine leading a top-class ensemble.
Full performance streamed on OperaVision from 29 September 2023 at 19:00 CET to 29 March 2024 at 12:00 CET: https://operavision.eu/performance/maid-orleans
CAST
Joan of Arc
Maria Kataeva
Thibaut d'Arc
Sami Luttinen
Raymond
Aleksandr Nesterenko
Charles VII
Sergej Khomov
Agnes Sorel
Luiza Fatyol
The Archbishop
Thorsten Grümbel
Dunois
Evez Abdulla
Lionel
Richard Šveda
Bertrand
Beniamin Pop
Confessor
Johannes Preißinger
Lauret / a soldier
Žilvinas Miškinis
Angel
Mara Guseynova
Orchestra
Düsseldorfer Symphoniker
Chorus
Chor der Deutschen Oper am Rhein
Music
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Text
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Conductor
Vitali Alekseenok
Director
Elisabeth Stöppler
Sets
Annika Haller
Costumes
Su Sigmund
Lighting
Volker Weinhart
Chorus Master
Gerhard Michalski
Dramaturgy
Anna Melcher
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