The acclaimed Czech choreographer Jirí Kylián worked with the Nederlands Dans Theater for over twenty years and, under his direction the company established an international reputation. This intimate portrait charts his career, shows him at work, illustrates the development of his choreography with extensive extracts from his ballets, and includes archive film and contributions from colleagues. Kylián also talks about the evolution of his work.
Bernard Haitink
Bernard Haitink, a leading figure in international concert halls and opera houses, is one of the most sought-after Mahler and Bruckner conductors of our time. This biographical documentary follows him as he prepares for and conducts concerts, operas, sound and television recordings. Music highlights include extracts from works by Bruckner, Mahler, Mozart, Schubert and Wagner. Archive material illustrates his long and illustrious career and maestro Haitink talks at length about his life, his music and conducting.
Songs of Experience – Sir Michael Tippett at 85
This profile of Sir Michael Tippett (1905-98), one of Britain’s foremost twentieth-century composers, was made with him during the rehearsals and first performances of his opera New Year. He talks about many of the important events in his life and about the sources of his inspiration, above all, his longing for peace and beauty in a world torn by violence and oppression. Tippett describes his approach to composition and is seen rehearsing his Triple Concerto for a planned recording.
Prokofiev – The Prodigal Son
This revealing and evocative docu-drama about Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was commissioned especially for television from the highly regarded Russian film-maker Andrei Nekrasov. He uses a cast of fine Russian actors, together with archive film clips and Prokofiev’s own writings, to tell the story of the composer’s life and career in his homeland and in the West. Voice-over narration describes events and sets them in context. The Kirov Opera Orchestra, conducted by Valéry Gergiev, plays Prokofiev’s music.
Kiri Te Kanawa – A Concert Special
At a spectacular open-air concert in New Zealand, Dame Kiri sang music ranging from Puccini to Gershwin to an audience of over seventy-five thousand. A year later she performed a programme of Handel and Mozart for an invited audience at the Wren chapel of the Royal Naval College in London. Highlights of these two quite different, but equally memorable, occasions are brought together in this concert special, which showcases the unique beauty and versatility of Dame Kiri’s voice. This delightfully varied programme of music includes the famous soprano aria ‘Tu che di gel’ from Puccini’s Turandot; ‘O mio babbino caro’ from the same composer’s Gianni Schicci; Mozart’s ‘Exsultate Jubilate’; a traditional Maori song; and ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ from the musical My Fair Lady.
Heinrich Schiff
Heinrich Schiff is one of today’s top ranking cellists. In an interview recorded at his home in Austria, he talks about his musicianship, his celebrated career as a performer, to his move towards conducting in becoming the director of England’s Northern Sinfonia, with whom he is seen rehearsing Beethoven and Bartók. Performance extracts include Schiff playing Bach sonatas and Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2 in G Op. 126.
Vera Lynn
At the height of her popularity during World War Two, the singer Dame Vera Lynn captured the heart of the British nation with ballads such as The White Cliffs of Dover and We’ll Meet Again. As the Forces’ sweetheart, she symbolised the fortitude with which Britain survived the Blitz. She has been called upon to recreate the spirit of resilience and patriotic pride ever since. This portrait celebrates Dame Vera – her music and her times.
The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips’s passion for the unaccompanied sacred choral music of the Renaissance period informed his mission to transform a talented amateur singing group into the polished, professional Tallis Scholars. This film shows off their accomplishments in performances of works by Cornyshe, Taverner, Tallis, Byrd, Desprès and Obrecht, among others. It charts Phillips’s personal odyssey and travels with him to Bruges, centre of the richly-coloured music of the fifteenth-century Low Countries.
Anne-Sophie Mutter
This portrait of the protégé of the late Herbert von Karajan – who, when she was only thirteen years old, proclaimed her “the greatest youthful musical talent since the young Menuhin” – shows her in performance, and talking in interview at her home in Kitzbühel about her life and her ideas on music. She is seen in concert at London’s Barbican Centre playing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Op. 35, as well as sonatas by Ravel, Franck, Tartini, Sarasate and Beethoven.
Willard White
Singer Sir Willard White not only has a superb bass/baritone voice, but his acting talent has landed him leading roles in the theatre as well as on the operatic stage. Jamaican by birth, he now lives in England, but this programme takes him back to his homeland to tell the remarkable story of his success. He demonstrates his operatic skills in special recordings of some of his most celebrated roles, and is seen in rehearsals for an English National Opera production of Pelleas and Melisande.