A year since the Covid-19 pandemic halted live musical performances, world-renowned cellist Jan Vogler drives across the United States – from New York City to California – to visit his friend and frequent collaborator, the prodigious pianist Hélène Grimaud. Desiring to make music again, the duo plans to perform a piece, which they have never played together. With his Stradivarius cello along for the ride, Vogler finds inspiration in the diverse natural beauty of America. He stops to play pieces by Bach in an Indiana forest, snow covered mountains in Colorado and the desert of Utah. The experience causes Vogler to reflect on his career, and approach to music. Grimaud, meanwhile, caring for her horses, also articulates her feelings on performing and her craft. When Vogler arrives in California, the duo plays Rachmanioff’s Cello and Piano Sonata, Op. 19, in one marvelous, emotional take.
Anna – Stage of Emotions
Anna – Stage of Emotions, is part documentary, part abstract and visually stunning response to some of the powerful themes that run through this music, from love and hope to death and despair. It captures Anna Netrebko’s portrayals of five operatic heroines – Aida, Lisa, Dido, Cio-Cio San and Isolde – all of whom are brought individually to life thanks to the director’s – renowned filmmaker Elena Petitti di Roreto – unique visual language and style. Interwoven with the five music videos is an insightful interview with Anna Netrebko, who discusses both the roles and her own life. Shot largely in the majestic setting of La Scala’s famous auditorium, the film forges connections with the opera house’s venerable history (it staged the world premiere of Madama Butterfly) and its continuing artistic excellence today under Maestro Chailly’s direction.
Mary Bauermeister: one and one is three
Mary Bauermeister is the ‘mother of Fluxus’ and was Stockausen’s muse. At the beginning of the 1960s, the who-is-who of the avant-garde met in her attic apartment in Cologne’s Lintgasse, among them John Cage, Hans G Helms, Nam June Paik, to only name a few. Today, at the age of 84, retirement is far from her mind. As long as her strength allows, she works in her studio near Cologne, the scene of the first feature-length documentary film about Mary Bauermeister and her extraordinary biography. “Mary Bauermeister – one and one is three” is a film about society, about the finiteness of life and the beauty of the world.
Magic Moments of Music – Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle “Spirituals”
When Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle took the stage of Carnegie Hall March 18, 1990 a breath of history wafted through America‘s most famous concert hall. It is a camera view of the audience that makes clear how long the road to this moment in music history was: there, the now very old African-American opera singer Marian Anderson, one of the great voices of her generation. In 1939, she had been barred from singing in Constitution Hall, because she was black. The twelve-year-old Jessye Norman had absorbed Anderson‘s biography, just like the music she performed that evening together with her great colleague and competitor Kathleen Battle: Spirituals. That evening in March 1990 was under enormous pressure of expectation and the tension crackled at all corners. For one thing: Would the two compete? Where did the competition lie? Divas who would actually manage to sing together and not against each other? But the two divas take Carnegie Hall by storm; critics and audiences alike pay homage to them: It is a musical feast of charisma, virtuosity, liveliness and show. Jessye Norman dominates the stage with her authentic timbre and an African colourful costume, Kathleen Battle still hits the finest high coloraturas.
Carnival of the Animals – A music piece tells the story
The “Carnival of the Animals” is his best known work. Camille Saint-Saëns never wanted to publish it during his lifetime. On the 100th anniversary of the composer’s death in December 2021, the music piece itself tells us how the dwindling act of birth occurred in the composer’s mind. It is the notes that tell us of its suffering and of its triumph on the great stages of the musical world. According to the will of its creator, “Carnival of the Animals” was to be performed only once, in March 1886, on Shrove Tuesday. And now this piece has stolen the show from Camille Saint-Saëns’ other works for a hundred years. Directors have brought Saint-Saëns’ music to Hollywood. At the Cannes International Film Festival, “The Aquarium” is the signature tune. The film shows that “Carnival” is more than the musical characterization and exaggeration of various species. The role of the narrator was taken over by German actor Sebastian Koch. An orchestra specially assembled for the film lets the music of the “Carnival of the Animals” resound.
7 Lives of Music – The Kanneh-Mason Familiy
Seven siblings whom nobody expected – but the classical music world desperately needed. The story of the Kanneh-Mason Family reads like a fairytale. They have dealt with prejudice, they have been overlooked, they have been made to feel out of place. But they have picked themselves up and they have proven themselves time and time again. The Kanneh-Masons light up every room they enter and they have found this to ensure the support of people like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who invited Sheku to play at their wedding, and Elton John, who supported Isata with a scholarship. This film accompanies this family on their path and join them on and behind the stages of the world as they conquer it together, as they grow into their own as a family of talented musicians.
Julian Rachlin & Denis Matsuev in Moscow
Pianist Denis Matsuev and his good friend, the violinist Julian Rachlin, perform in the venerable Moscow Conservatory. On this occasion, the artists dare to try something new: instead of his violin, Julian Rachlin reaches for the conductor’s baton to conduct a piece which he, with his violin, would neve approach. Together and for the first time, they give an interpretation of a work put to paper by Pyotr Tchaikovsky in the Moscow of 1874: his Piano Concerto No. 1. The film accompanies the rehearsals and concert which, together with the youthful and vibrant energy of the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra, turns out to be very special indeed.
Magic Moments of Music – Nigel Kennedy and the Four Seasons
It is a recording that is shaking up the classical music scene. Suddenly, an audience feels addressed that until then had heard little of classical music, of Bach or Vivaldi. Nigel Kennedy succeeds in overcoming the fears of an audience for whom Schubert and Beethoven had previously been too elitist and too aloof. He inspires as many and as varied people as probably few classical music stars before him. The CD with a recording of the Four Seasons becomes the best-selling classical album of all time. Nigel Kennedy enter the Guinness Book of Records: more than 3 million records sold. The album stays at the top of the UK classical charts for over a year and also reaches high positions in the pop charts. The tabloids and magazines pounce on the young artist. The recording of this tour, which sells out within minutes, becomes one of music‘s finest moments. With wildly gelled hair and in unusual designer garb, Nigel Kennedy appears before his audience. He succeeds in addressing his listeners simply, without airs and graces, and in introducing them to his world without creating any hurdles.
Jonas Kaufmann – A Global Star in Private
Family man, passionate cook, crime thriller fan and award-winning opera singer – we are talking about the German „King of Tenors“ Jonas Kaufmann. The exclusive documentary „Jonas Kaufmann – a global star in private“ shows the opera singer „behind the curtain“ up close in his home in beautiful Bavaria. When Jonas Kaufmann is not on tour, he spends his free time there with his wife, the opera director Christiane Lutz and his four children. Music also finds its place in his private rooms and the opera singer uses the domestic inspiration for new productions. His longtime friends Alexander Klaus-Stecher and Judith Williams are also part of the documentary „Jonas Kaufmann – a global star in private“ and will be chatting away during lunch and the subsequent bowls at Kaufmann‘s house.
Jimmy Carter – Rock & Roll President
JIMMY CARTER: ROCK & ROLL PRESIDENT shows how Carter‘s lifelong passion for music gave him an unexpected edge as a presidential candidate as he tapped into a force that transcended racial and generational divides, and often party lines. Carter’s appreciation for all genres of music and friendships with the likes of Bob Dylan, Gregg Allman, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, and Willie Nelson helped to define his administration. JIMMY CARTER: ROCK & ROLL PRESIDENT combines intimate interviews with Carter and an eclectic cast of contributors including Willie Nelson, Bono, Bob Dylan, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Jimmy Buffett, Rosanne Cash, Chuck Leavell, Paul Simon, Andrew Young and Madeleine Albright. Featuring rare archival era-defining live performances from Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan, among others, director Mary Wharton traces how Carter’s genuine approachability, combined with the unifying power of music, became key to his political appeal, and allowed him to connect with voters who may only have known him as a small-town peanut farmer. „As joyful and buoyant as its music.“ The Hollywood Reporter