For this spectacular production of Mozart’s Davide penitente on the vast stage of the Salzburg Felsenreitschule at the Mozart Week 2015, Marc Minkowski and the equestrian choreographer Bartabas used dancing horses and thus restored the former riding school to its original function. Horses, riders from the Académie équestre de Versailles and Bartabas himself, whose successful productions are unique in the world of art, perform their elegant dressage arabesques within this exceptional setting. Soloists, chorus and orchestra are ranged over three levels on galleries cut from the bare rock. The result is a unique synthesis of the arts.
The 3 Tenors – Christmas Concert 1999
The 3 Tenors capture the joy and spirit of the season with their first ever Christmas concert, live from Vienna, featuring performances of international season favourites by the best-selling and world-renowned trio. Have yourself a warm, sophisticated Christmas with the 3 Tenors as they cradle the classics with their magnificent voices. Cantique de noel (O Holy Night); Ave Maria, Dolce Maria; Oh Tannenbaum; White Christmas, and more.
Soldiers of Music: Rostropovich Returns to Russia
Documentary showing the return to his native Russia of Mstislav Rostropovitch, includes extensive performance footage and coverage of political and personal matters for the cellist. This film is an account, in cinema verite style, of what happened when Rostropovich, along with his wife, the renowned soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, returned to the country that had stripped them of all rights to perform, demolishing their careers because they had dared to shelter and defend Solzhenitsyn. ACCOLADES: Jury Prize, Montreal; Emmy Award
Kathleen Battle & Jessye Norman – Spirituals
Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman teamed up with James Levine for this distinctive selection of famous Spirituals. PROGRAM: In That Great Getting Up Morning; Oh, What A Beautiful City; Lord, How Come Me Here; Over My Head / Lil‘ David; I Believe I‘ll Go Back Home / Lordy, Won‘t You Help Me; Ride on, King Jesus; Swing Low, Sweet Chariot / Ride Up in the Chariot; You Can Tell the World; Scandalize My Name; Great day; Oh, Glory; Calvary / They Crucified My Lord; Talk About a Child; Gospel train; My God Is So High; There is a balm in Gilead; He‘s got the whole world in His hands
To Tulsa and Back – On Tour with J.J. Cale
He was the most unpretentious man in pop music. Success seemed to come to him, only when he wanted it and his definition of success was unlike any other performers. He made a fortune writing songs, but lived for years in a trailer hiding from the public. All of his records have reached cult status. They called him the Howard Hughes of the music world. A legend wrapped in mystery. Eric Clapton had huge hits with Cale’s After Midnight and Cocaine. Johnny Cash, the Allman Brothers, Brian Ferry, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Santana, Deep Purple and many more covered his songs. For Eric Clapton Cale is the person he admires most and the only other musician he would like to be. Cale created the Tulsa Sound, a laid back mix of Rock`n’ Roll, Country, Blues and Jazz and is one of the most influential artists of the last three decades. Dire Straits admit to have built up their sound upon his laid back Blues-Rock. Among his devoted fans are musicians of all generations as Willy Nelson, Tom Petty and Widespread Panic. He is the musician of the musicians. For the first time, Cale agreed to have a film made on him. The documentary follows him and his band through six American states on his To Tulsa and Back Tour.
John Lee Hooker – That’s my Story
In this loving, endearing portrait of the legendary, passed away blues artist John Lee Hooker, his life is described by himself, his closest friends and music colleagues, from his birthplace in Mississippi following the ups and downs of his career to the big successes. That’s My Story is also the title of a famous Hooker song. Its text implies many autobiographic elements. It was his way to compensate life through music. The film accompanies him musically through the last six decades by using material from the archives to the latest recordings. The story of Hooker’s life is at the same time the history of Blues and its influence on British and American music from the fifties to the seventies. With hits like Boogie Chillen, Crawling King Snake, I’m in the Mood and Boom Boom he became an idol for whole generations of music makers. Especially for bands from Great Britain in the early sixties, like the Animals, The Rolling Stones and for musicians like Van Morrison, John Mayall and Eric Clapton, in the US for Bob Dylan. For the groups Canned Heat, J.Geils Band and Santana he was even something like a father figure. His music style has always differed from the style of other Blues musicians. Maybe this is the reason he has fans in every generation over the last sixty years.
All you need is Klaus
A journey into the incredible life of Klaus Voormann. An inside view into the history of Rock’n’Roll. A story of friendship, art and music. Klaus Voormann was on the frontlines of the pop era’s meteoric rise. His friendship with the Beatles has lasted ever since their joint Hamburg Days. This is his story. The film follows him to the most important places of his career in England, the US and to friends like Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Carly Simon, Van Dyke Parks, Joe Walsh, Randy Newman, Richard Perry, Jim Keltner, Trevor Lawrence, Twiggy, The Manfreds, Olivia Harrison. We meet stars like we’ve never seen them before and witness new and extraordinary music sessions.
Mariss Jansons conducts Bruckner 9
As part of a fully fledged Bruckner festival, Mariss Jansons is conducting a series of Bruckner symphonies, each paired with a classical solo concerto – great music by great composers. The series gets under way with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, composed in 1795. The work is, in actual fact, Beethoven’s second contribution to the genre, in which he pushes the boundaries of the instrument. The featured soloist is Lars Vogt. One hundred years after Beethoven had written his Piano Concerto, Bruckner concluded his monumental symphonic œuvre with the unfinished Ninth Symphony, leaving behind three completed movements and sketches for a finale in 1896, the year in which he died. In his swansong – the starkly dissonant Adagio –, Bruckner explores the very boundaries of tonality. —— Program: Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 1, Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 9.
Barbara Hannigan – A Late Night Concert
There are pianists who also conduct, and concertmasters who lead their orchestra from the violin chair. But a star soprano who coordinates a large instrumental ensemble while at the same time negotiating the trickiest coloratura singing is something entirely new. That is, until Barbara Hannigan came along to reveal this remarkable skill. “It’s like walking on virgin snow,” says the Canadian “artiste étoile” who teamed up at Lucerne Festival in Summer with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Next to conducting works by Fauré, Mozart and Rossini she performed onstage, decked out in a daring S&M-style leather bodice, Ligeti’s “Mysteries of the Macabre.”
The Philharmonics in Vienna
The soloists of The Philharmonics – an ensemble made up of musicians from the Vienna Philharmonic – performing Johann Strauß’s waltzes arranged by Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern und Alban Berg in an original Viennese Coffeehouse. PROGRAMME: ROSEN AUS DEM SÜDEN arr. by Arnold Schoenberg / KAISERWALZER arr. by Arnold Schoenberg / LAGUNENWALZER arr. by Arnold Schoenberg (after Motives from the Opera ‘Eine Nacht in Venedig’) / WEIN, WEIB UND GESANG arr. by Alban Berg / SCHATZWALZER arr. by Anton Webern (from the Operetta ‘Der Zigeunerbaron’), ALT WIEN Godowski, MARCHE MINIATURE VIENNOIS Fritz Kreisler, SCHÖN ROSMARIN Fritz Kreisler, CAPRICE VIENNOIS Fritz Kreisler, YIDDISHE MAME arr. by Tibor Kovac.