Meet the exceptionnal Teodor Currentzis at the helm of musicAeterna for a memorable concert at Luzern’s KKL! On the program: Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, a favorite of the ensemble, with its gorgeous Adagietto whose direction is a challenge to all conductors, the perfect opportunity for the maestro to showcase his style. Then, we move on to Anaphora by contemporary composer Alexey Retinsky, a work which plays on the contrasting sound textures between acoustic and electric instruments to create innovative and rich harmonic colors. PROGRAM Mahler: Symphony No. 5; Retinsky: Anaphora
Juan Diego Florez – Besame Mucho
Peruvian star tenor Juan Diego Flórez goes back to his roots with this recital performed at the Wiener Konzerthaus. His passion for Latin American music started at an early age, when he was still a child. It was a deep and lasting passion and his initial encounter with it turned into a lifelong passion. “I grew up with vals criollos, Marineras, boleros, rancheras and tangos, magnificent songs from Latin America,” says tenor star Juan Diego Flórez. His grandmother played tangos on the piano and his father Rubén is a folk singer famous in Peru who has a great deal of love for the great Chabuca Granda, who achieved her success with classics like “José Antonio”. But songs from Cuba and Mexico, especially those by José Alfredo Jiménez, and from other Latin American countries also fascinated Flórez from an early age. “This music goes straight to the heart,” he confesses, “because it deals with things that affect us all directly, such as home, family, the joy of love and the pain of love.” Flórez wants to convey a representative image of the Latin American continent using “songs that are all exemplary of the people and their various countries.
Lucas Debargue – To the Music
For a year, the film follows the pianist Lucas Debargue through his encounters, his discoveries and his quest for music. In his early career, revealed by the XVth International Tchaikovsky Competition, praised by the public and critics, Lucas is confronted with the concerts that come one after another. He discovers the relationship with the conductor and music partners, studio recordings, post-concerts, success and autographs. He has now found his new life, a whole life devoted to music.
The Piano Guys live at Red Rocks
Watch them get music out of classical instruments in ways their original inventors never envisioned! What began as an experiment and then exploded into an Internet phenomenon has now evolved into an incredible success story. The Piano Guys, four talented dads from Utah, have climbed the Great Wall of China for their craft, landed atop Billboard charts, sold out tour dates around the world, accrued a massive social media following and scored YouTube viewership at over 500 million views. The Piano Guys brings their artistry to the stunning Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado for this all-new music special.
Jonas Kaufmann – My Italy
With this recording Jonas Kaufmann, Italy’s ‘adopted tenor-son’, pays tribute to a culture that has inspired countless immortal melodies for the tenor voice. This recording spans Italian pop, traditional and Neapolitan songs, a heartfelt tribute to Italian music including Caruso, Mattinata, Parla più piano (‘The Godfather’ theme), Core ‘ngrato, Volare & more! “Italian music has this unbelievable way of producing such immortal melodies – full of sun and warmth – that all day long you can’t get them out of your head!” JONAS KAUFMANN
Currentzis – The Classical Rebel
While the whole world thinks that Europe ends at Perm, Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis starts a classical music revolution together with his orchestra MusicAeterna in the Ural foothills, a fast changing former industrial city now being one of the major cultural centres of Russia. The film accompanies a new opera recording of “Don Giovanni” in studio-like conditions, traces artistic processes and portrays the maverick super-star conductor. The film combines both high standards of journalism and a pleasantly intriguing approach to the world of classical music with fascinating artists, peeks behind the scenes and timelessly beautiful music.
Il Volo – Notte Magica “A Tribute To The Three Tenors”
“Notte Magica – A Tribute To The Three Tenors” – on July 7, 1990, a magical night took place in Rome: José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti sang together for the very first time in one of the most evocative temples of opera, the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome giving life to the biggest classical music project of the century, The Three Tenors. Twenty-six years later, worldwide platinum selling artists, Il Volo, pay tribute to the event and to the Three Tenors with a live concert event, “Notte Magica – A Tribute to The Three Tenors”. The concert took place at the Piazza Santa Croce, one of the most beautiful plazas in Florence with the famous Teatro Massimo di Palermo Orchestra. Il Volo performed some of the most famous Neapolitan songs and arias from the Italian and international operatic repertoire all of which were sung by the original Three Tenors. As a special guest, Maestro Plácido Domingo conducted almost half of the program and joined Il Volo singing the classic “Non ti scordar di me”. Although Il Volo were not yet born when The Three Tenors first performed, they grew up listening to them, being fascinated and inspired by their voices and legendary achievements. Now, Il Volo deliver this music to a younger audience so they can experience the same emotions from that long ago magical night.
Madama Butterfly
An acclaimed cinematic adaptation of Puccini’s popular opera about the tragic love affair between a naive geisha and the American naval officer who deserts her and their young child. Like the finest of film scores with its fluid beauty and succession of intensely romantic tunes, Madame Butterfly has a surprisingly cinematic feel. In 1995 director Frederic Mitterand exploited this quality of the story, exposing a young woman’s disillusionment against a backdrop of cultural chasms. Shot on location, with Tunisia doubling convincingly as a turn of the century Nagasaki, this Butterfly shines with fragile beauty. The house becomes a brilliantly used set; airy and full of the scent of flowers and at the same time a cage for the trapped woman. Archive footage of bygone Nagasaki is used skillfully to underline the distance between the 15-year-old bride and Pinkerton. Featuring Chinese soprano Ying Huang and American tenor Richard Troxell.
John Williams & Steven Spielberg – The Adventure Continues
A documentary by Laurent Bouzereau including new interviews with Steven Spielberg and John Williams! Over the 90-year history of sound film, there have been a handful of instances where a director and a composer have formed a longtime partnership that resulted in a series of classical scores, creating music that stands the test of time. None, however, have been as long or as fruitful as the 43-year collaboration of Steven Spielberg and John Williams. None have encompassed such a wide range of subject matter or, more significantly, have had such an enormous impact on worldwide popular culture. From the ominous shark signature of Jaws to the five-note alien greeting of Close Encounters of the Third Kind; from the heroic march of Raiders of the Lost Ark to the moving themes for Schindler’s List the music Williams has written for more than two dozen Spielberg projects has not only served them brilliantly but entered the wider public consciousness.
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