In the summer of 1907 composer Gustav Mahler experienced a crisis of such magnitude that some thought he would never recover. His five-year-old daughter died of scarlet fever after 15 days, and a doctor diagnosed him with a congenital heart defect. Mustering his courage and tapping in to his genius, Mahler transformed his despair into a great piece of music. It was something entirely new: a “song-symphony” based on ancient Chinese verses. The film presents dramatizations of the poems, commentary by renowned experts, and excerpts from a brilliant performance featuring Metropolitan Opera stars Thomas Hampson and Paul Groves with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Neeme Järvi. The documentary explores the biographical, cultural and philosophical context of The Song of the Earth, a masterpiece often singled out as the composer’s most personal musical statement.
For the Love of Mahler: The Inspired Life of Henry-Louis de La Grange
For the Love of Mahler presents a portrait of the famed French-American music historian Henry-Louis de La Grange, now 90. The film joins him on his annual migration from Marrakech to Paris and to Toblach in the Italian Alps, while he busily works on revising his epic four-volume biography of Gustav Mahler. How Mahler’s music inspired his life, and how Henry-Louis channeled what could have been a self-indulgent obsession into a lifetime of groundbreaking discoveries, famous friendships and award winning accomplishment, demonstrates the remarkable power of music to change lives.
Leonard Bernstein – Larger than Life
Leonard Bernstein was America’s ambassador to the world of music. He was one of the most influential musicians of the last century and inspired an entire generation with his music ensembles and symphony orchestras. An influential teacher, a brilliant conductor, a fine composer and an accomplished pianist. A man, who lived five lives and who exuded passion from every pore. This portrait by Georg Wübbolt, director of the awardwinning documentaries on Herbert von Karajan and Sir Georg Solti, covers the whole spectrum of Bernstein’s life: From his world famous TV series Young People’s Concerts to the recording of his Mahler cycle and from the West Side Story to his Chichester Psalms. The film includes interviews with Bernstein’s children as well as with friends and companions such as Stephen Sondheim, Kent Nagano and Christoph Eschenbach.
Zhu Xiao-Mei: How Bach Defeated Mao
Music, especially Bach’s music, gave this artist the strength to survive unimaginable challenges. Zhu Xiao-Mei belongs to the “Lost Generation” that endured the worst excesses of Mao’s regime: several years of “re-education”, five years in a work camp, her family destroyed, endless deprivation and political intrigue… “Zhu Xiao-Mei: How Bach defeated Mao” is a portrait of an artist whose life is inextricably tied to Mao’s disastrous Cultural Revolution. In 1980 Zhu Xia-Mei emigrated to the United States, then decided to settle in Paris in 1984. In this film for the first time after 35 years she returns as a celebrated concert pianist to her roots with a triumphal tour to modern China.
Maestras – The long journey of women to the podium
Being a female conductor means being an exception. Even today. When a woman stands on the podium she is, in most cases, somehow “the first”: the first to lead a world-class orchestra, the first to conduct the “Last Night of the Proms” in London, the first to win the German Conductor Prize. For decades, this sensational character has been tradition. At the same time it seems that the world of the maestro is now in a state of upheaval. The young Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla, who took over the post of Andris Nelsons in Birmingham this September, said with conviction: “I really believe that something is changing now.” But why is it that there have been so few female conductors in the international music scene? To take a closer look at this phenomenon, the 53-minute film MAESTRAS follows several female conductors. This historical retrospective is supplemented by the memories of Hedy Graber. She is the daughter of Hedy Salquin, the first Swiss female conductor, who in 1955 received a letter from the Hessian Radio with the words: “Dear Mr. Salquin, although you are a woman we are addressing you with “Mr.” Moreover, we don’t have any use for you.”
PopScandals
PopScandals is a two part journey in time through the juiciest, dirtiest and hottest pop scandals of the last 60 years! Whether naked truths, jarring stage performances or accidental slip ups, PopScandals shows what shocked respectable citizens and the conservative establishment and left the youth rejoicing. From the stuffiness of the 50s when a pelvic thrust or flash of a breast was enough to stir up a storm, to the age of social media, where staged scandals have become an integral part of pop culture. Using the big stars as an example, PopScandals tells of what was needed at which point in time to create a legendary scandal, or to avoid one. PopScandals makes it noticeable and possible to experience the technological development and commercialization of the “scandal machine” the media have created, having become a scandal in itself.
Soulpower
Given that soul has always developed under very particular socio-economic conditions and that the historical background is charged with a topicality that remains significant to this day, the music story will be told within both a historical and political context. In so doing, Soulpower unites a period that spans from the end of the Second World War to the new millennium. From race music to Rihanna. From Bo Diddley to Beyoncé. From Aretha to Adele. From Al Green to Alicia Keys. A thrillingly told, groovy documentary series presenting the big names, the music, the conflicts and the attitude to life of the past 60 years and allows them to resonate.
The Lost Paradise – Arvo Pärt, Robert Wilson
He is the most performed contemporary composer in the world. And yet he rarely ventures out in public, prefers to keep quiet about his music, feels at home in the forests of Estonia and generates therewith – perhaps involuntarily – the impression of a recluse, which is attributed to him again and again: Arvo Pärt. In The Lost Paradise, we follow him over a period of one year in his native Estonia, to Japan and the Vatican. The documentary is framed by the stage production of Adam’s Passion, a music theater piece based on the Biblical story of the fall of Adam featuring three key works by Arvo Pärt. The world-renowned director Robert Wilson has brought this work to the stage in a former submarine factory in Tallinn. Tracing their creative process, the film offers rare and personal insights into the worlds of two of the most fascinating personalities in the international arts and music scene.
The Three Tenors – The Birth of a Legend
Excitement after a spectacular open-air concert. At the 1990 Football World Cup, the three tenors, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti met the first time together with the conductor Zubin Mehta for an extraordinary musical experience. Six thousand excited live viewers and one billion watching on television. The beginning of a new era of classical music. In the following years, the 3 Tenors held audiences around the world under their spell in over thirty performances. They helped to bring about an unexpected flourishing of classical music. The concert in the Caracalla Baths of Rome was the Birth of a Legend. The programme interweaves performance and background information, including previously unseen material.
Birth of a Legend – The Three Tenors
In July 1990, on the eve of the World Cup final in Italy, something happened that would change the world of classical music forever. Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and José Carreras, the three greatest tenors of their generation, appeared on stage together: the premiere of the legendary all-star formation ‘The 3 Tenors’. This historic concert in the antique Roman Baths of Caracalla marked the beginning of a new era in classical music.The ‘3 Tenors’ were more than just a musical event; they were a cultural phenomenon. Hundreds of thousands of spectators in sold-out stadiums and millions of television viewers around the world were enchanted by these extraordinary voices. The passion, dedication and virtuosity they brought to the stage made people’s hearts beat faster and tears of emotion flow. The 3 tenors changed the image of classical music, overcoming the boundaries between genres and inspiring a wide audience with the beauty and fascination of opera and classical music. This programme shows highlights from the Baths of Caracalla and also from the concerts with which the 3 Tenors celebrated triumphs around the world from 1996 onwards. With impressions from rehearsals and the tour, a variety of insights behind the scenes and statements by Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, José Carreras and the conductor Zubin Mehta, the film conveys all the magic of this classical music legend.