premiere until the revised version of Simon Boccanegra 36 years later. While the critics were rather dismissive of the opera, it was "ecstatically received" by audiences. and was given a respectable 17 performances. For the opera's first production in Rome, three months after the Milan premiere, the papal censor required that the plot be cleared of any direct religious connotations. The title was changed to Orietta di Lesbo, the setting was shifted to the Greek island and the heroine, now of Genoese descent, became a leader of the Lesbians against the Turks. Performances under this title were also given in Palermo in 1848. For the next 20 years Giovanna d'Arco had steady success in Italy, with stagings in Florence, Lucca, and Senigallia in 1845, Turin and Venice in 1846, Mantua in 1848, and Milan in 1851, 1858, and 1865. It was also presented elsewhere in Europe, Over the course of the nineteenth century, stagings declined to a very few. 20th and 21st centuries In 1951 Renata Tebaldi sang the title role in Naples, Milan (a studio-recorded broadcast) and Paris, in a tour that led to further revivals. The US premiere was given in March 1966, in a concert performance at Carnegie Hall, New York, with Teresa Stratas in the title role. Its first stage performance in the US was given in 1976 by Vincent La Selva at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It received its UK premiere at the Royal Academy of Music in London on 23 May 1966. Fully staged productions were mounted by the San Diego Opera in June 1980 as part of its short-lived "Verdi Festival", and by the Royal Opera, London in June 1996 with Vladimir Chernov as Giacomo and June Anderson as Giovanna. In September 2013, Chicago Opera Theater staged performances of the opera. La Scala, Milan, presented the opera for the first time in 150 years in 2015 in a new production with Anna Netrebko in the title role. The Berliner Operngruppe under Felix Krieger presented the opera in March 2018 at Konzerthaus Berlin. Roles Synopsis Time: 1429 Place: Domrémy, Reims and near Rouen, France Prologue Scene 1: The French village of Domrémy Charles (the not-yet-crowned King of France) describes to his officers and the villagers his vision of the Virgin Mary commanding him to surrender to the invading English army and laying down his weapons at the foot of a giant oak tree.