Leed's Opera North company has commissioned Los Angeles composer and producer Julia Holter to create a new soundtrack for the 1928 silent film The Passion Of Joan Of Arc. For the piece she'll be joined by the 36 members of Opera North's chorus as well as her own three-piece band.

The new score follows a live soundtrack for the film that Holter performed in Los Angeles in 2017, though the new piece has increased in scale and sound palette. “I’ll be adapting a couple of relevant medieval chants for the ensemble, to take the melodies to a wild place that reflects the rapture and trauma of [Renée] Falconetti’s Joan, with the help of bells, organ and other instruments,” says Holter.

Holter’s live soundtrack is part of a wider programme for Opera North whose other commissions have seen Haley Fohr score Salomé, Hildur Gudnadóttir, Philip Jeck and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson work on Pandora’s Box, and Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures Of Prince Achmed screened with a gamelan soundtrack.

Julia Holter's score for The Passion Of Joan Of Arc will premiere at Leeds Town Hall on 24 June 2020, followed by a performance at London Barbican on 27 June.