Hilliard Ensemble / Harmonie Band

In 2007, the Hilliard Ensemble will be collaborating on a film project with Harmonie Band.  The composer and member of Harmonie Band Paul Robinson is composing a new score for Carl Theodore Dreyer's La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, to be performed by both ensembles.  The groups have been familiar with one another's work since 1995 when Paul Robinson was composer in residence at the Hilliards' summer school.  For this project, Robinson is going to use the model of his score for Cocteau's Le Sang d'un Poet where he paired Machaut's Ballades for countertenor with more abrasive instrumental interludes.  On this occasion however, he will use works by the 15th century French composers Dufay and Binchois, the musical vernacular of the narrative.  This will be juxtaposed with instrumental music which sets out to enact the mental violence being visited on the heroine.