Joan’s army and execute “this fair-faced demon,” and the voices of the interrogators who condemned her for heresy (the scene a brilliant cacophony of garbled absurdities). Kirsten’s eclectic score gathers its strength from a mixture of jazzy, driving rhythmic ostinatos for cello (Katinka Kleijn) and percussion (Cynthia Yeh) in the trial scene, the piercing purity of the women’s voices singing in dissonant harmonic intervals, and, most striking of all, the flute playing of Tim Munro. The flutist, a former member of the Chicago ensemble Eighth Blackbird, took the mysterious role of the Stag, whom Joan sees as a divine messenger and believes will save her from death. Sporting a mask with illuminated antlers, Munro played, flutter-tongued, grunted, snarled, spoke and emitted all manner of other explosive sounds through his amplified flute, his performance a virtuosic tour de force if there ever was one. Hardly less mesmerizing were the three Joans — sopranos Molly Netter and Eliza Bagg, and mezzo Hai-Ting Chinn — accomplished singing actors whose ecstatic a cappella trio in the ninth section, “Fire,” sung in French, was hauntingly beautiful and dramatically powerful. This listener won’t soon forget the aching theater-poetry of the final scene, with the heroine’s repeated cries of “Jesu,” the stage fading to black and a single spotlight illuminating Joan’s face. Her faith in God is undimmed to the very end. Kirsten’s stage direction was as sure-footed as her score and scenario, and she deserves immense credit for avoiding visual cliches — no projections of crackling flames or clashing armies, no projections of any sort, for that matter. Just as the composer capitalized on minimalist abstraction in her staging, so, too, did her sparing use of cello and percussion enhance the multilayered poetry of her libretto. Take a bow, Kleijn and Yeh. “Savior” proved to be a splendid addition to MusicNOW’s 20th anniversary season. John von Rhein is a Tribune critic. jvonrhein@chicagotribune.com Twitter @jvonrhein RELATED: Itzhak Perlman lets Juilliard students show off their chops » Itzhak Perlman to talk disability here, receive presidential honor in D.C. » Classical listening delights, wrapped in gift boxes » Copyright © 2018, Chicago Tribune
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