PORTLAND, Maine – The Choral Art Society season will open with the Maine premiere of “Voices of Light” that merges the legendary silent film masterpiece “The Passion of Joan of Arc” with a new choral work by composer Richard Einhorn. The performance will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at Hannaford Hall. A pre-concert lecture led by University of Southern Maine professor Kathy Ashley of the women and genders program, will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The 16-member Camerata ensemble of The Choral Art Society and Portland Symphony Orchestra instrumentalists will perform together.

Based on the record of the trial and execution of Joan of Arc, “The Passion of Joan of Arc” is considered a significant film for its production and direction, including the unusual at the time usage of close ups and raw emotion. The 1928 film was believed to have been destroyed in a warehouse fire until a copy was discovered in 1981. Einhorn composed “Voices of Light” in 1994 to accompany the film.

The program is supported by the Maine Humanities Council and the USM Women and Genders Program. Tickets to the performance are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, $10 students, and available at choralart.org, Starbird Music and Longfellow Books in Portland, Nonesuch Books in the Mill Creek Shopping Center in South Portland, and at The Book Review in Falmouth.