To this day, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is one of the most popular pieces of classical music in the world. But what is it about this global hit? The film charts the success of the symphony around the globe and encounters passionate amateur musicians and musical personalities. Watch as Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis works on Beethoven’s Ninth with his ensemble, MusicAeterna. Follow Chinese composer and Oscar winner Tan Dun as he creates a new composition inspired by the great Beethoven symphony. Experience the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as they play the Ninth. Visit a favela in Brazil, where Beethovens’s music helps people get off the streets. Be amazed as a choir of 10,000 in Japan sings the final chorus of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, with great enthusiasm. Learn how Paul Whittaker helps make Beethoven accessible for deaf people. And find out how British DJ Gabriel Prokofiev performs a symphonic remix of Beethoven’s Ninth.
The Vision: Making of The 3 Tenors in Concert 1994
The Vision gives you the chance to look behind the scenes and watch as the story of The Making of The 3 Tenors in Concert 1994 unfolds. With Budapest’s Heroes Square as the inspiration, a baseball stadium is transformed into the greatest amphitheatre ever built, combining classical architecture with the beauty of nature. A vast array of contracts are agreed, the repertoire is chosen (changed and chosen again!), including medleys specially arranged by renowned composer Lalo Schifrin, an orchestra and chorus are prepared, sound and live recording equipment is installed… and Los Angeles’ busy air traffic is persuaded to keep away from the stadium during the concert. From an intimate charity concert in Monte Carlo in June, there is exclusive film of The 3 Tenors relaxing, rehearsing and in concert performing Libiamo ne lieti calici and Granada. And six weeks later in Los Angeles, Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti and Mehta are captured at their final dress rehearsal before the momentous 1994 concert. Finally, as World Cup fever and tenor-mania grip Los Angeles simultaneously, four of classical music’s premier and most popular talents combine to perform La donna é mobile from the concert that enthralled the world.
The Three Lives of Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann’s life story has become a legend. Her austere childhood, her extraordinary talent as a pianist, her early love for the composer Robert Schumann, which she imposed on her father, and the upbringing of seven children provide enough material for myths and clichés. But who really was Clara Schumann? The documentary “The Three Lives of Clara Schumann” approaches her personality from different angles – through her letters and diaries, through her compositions, and through musicians who have intensively studied her – as interpreters of her music, as seekers in her biography, as time travellers.
Richard Strauss – Sketches Of A Life
Commemorating Richard Strauss’ 150th Birthday, the film focuses on the family of the composer. Especially for this documentary, the family archive of the Strauss-family is opened to the public by Richard Strauss’ grand-son Christian and his sister in law (and today’s archival director) Gabriele Strauss-Hotter. It allows the viewer to get an intense, nearly intimate view on the extraordinary life of this exceptional artist. The film by Barbara Wunderlich and Marieke Schroeder sketches the personality of Strauss by emphasis on the Strauss Villa in Garmisch, his focal point of life, and the symphonic composition “Symphonia Domestica”, which portrays the artist’s contradictive persona and his body of work better than any other piece of him.
75 Years Lucerne Festival
A collage of historic images, recent concert recordings and interviews with protagonists of then and now, this one-hour documentary spans a wide arc from the founding days, through history’s trials and tribulations to the overwhelming success of recent years and offers an inside glimpse into the 75 years of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL.
Boris Berezovsky – Pianist and Virtuoso
The Russian Pianist Boris Berezovsky is one of the most virtuous Piano Interpreter of our times. One can tell that for him the borders of keyboard possibilities have not yet been reached. Boris Berezovsky bought attention to himself with his daring dexterity at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He won the Gold Medal straight off. The film accompanies Boris Berezovsky on his musical journey. The Artist Boris Berezovsky drives through the nightly Yekaterinburg, as a passionate player he goes to the casino and improvises along with a little Band in a Jazz Club.
Premieres Revisited – Haydn’s Daytime Symphonies at Schloss Esterházy
Il Giardino Armonico, conducted by Giovanni Antonini, performs the three Daytime Symphonies two and a half centuries after their premiere at their original concert venue, the magnificent Haydn Hall at Esterházy Palace. Premieres Revisited provides insight into the three works and combines their background with interviews and a passionate and virtuoso performance to convey an impression of the premiere at that time.
Hans Werner Henze – composer, communist, dandy
Hans Werner Henze was Germany’s most political composer, at the same time, he was the epitome of a dandy and bon vivant. On the occasion of his 100th birthday in July 2026, the film is a tribute to the courageous artist and humanist, showing his colourful life in all its complexity and with all its contradictions.
Sensitive Strings – Daniel Lozakovich and his Stradivarius
Young violinist Daniel Lozakovich performs on the world’s greatest stages. Since 2022, he has been playing an exceptional Stradivarius: the Sancy, which was the companion of the legendary Ivry Gitlis for more than sixty years.
The documentary follows the passing of the Sancy from Ivry Gitlis to the Swedish prodigy, highlighting the musical and emotional legacy that each virtuoso leaves on his instrument. It explores the intimate relationship between a musician and his instrument, considered an artistic alter ego of inestimable value.
What does an instrument pass on from one virtuoso to another? How much of Ivry Gitlis’ soul still vibrates under Daniel Lozakovich’s bow? Is there a secret formula for reproducing its magic today? Why can a Stradivarius fetch several million euros and fascinate musicians and collectors to such an extent?
Through a journey that takes us from France to Kyrgyzstan, via Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, the portrait of a major artist of our time emerges.
Sol & Lise
Lise Cristiani, born in the gutters of Paris, was the first cellist to dare to perform on stage in 1844. A woman with a cello! Obscene! A taboo. Until then, the instrument had only been played by men. With her Stradivarius, Lise Cristiani conquered the concert halls of Europe. On an adventurous journey, she even took her music to the farthest corner of Siberia, as Lise wrote, ‘to places where no artist had ever gone before.’ Sol Gabetta, virtuoso cellist of today, traced the history of her predecessor, searched for Lise’s repertoire, and wanted to create her own concert. The solo cellist found herself in roles entirely new to her. Like Lise once did, she also became a dramaturge and concert presenter. Lise Cristiani’s adventurous life is interwoven into the musical creation of the concert and her first performance.