This production of Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” was recorded at two highly exceptional places: Palestine and Israel, the authentic, historical locations of the Christmas story. The recording of the work’s first three cantatas took place in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, and the second set of cantatas at the Evangelical Church in Jerusalem on Christmas Day. Conductor Riccardo Chailly leads the Zurich Opera’s acclaimed early-music ensemble along with a roster of top soloists. The program is interspersed with shots of various historical sites of Israel and Palestine.
Beethoven‘s Nine: Ode to Humanity
In early 2023, filmmaker Larry Weinstein set out to make a documentary about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It was supposed to be about how far we have come in the two undred years since it was written. But when world events pull Larry into his own film, the question becomes a deeply personal one. Beethoven’s Nine is a documentary about music, but also about war and hope. It follows nine unique individuals, including Ukrainian musicians, a deaf composer, a Polish rock star, a best-selling author, a legendary cartoonist and Weinstein himself, as they try to better understand the legacy of Beethoven’s Ninth, the composer’s own struggles, the inspiration music can provide and how humanity continues to look for hope even in the darkest times.
Sting – A Winter’s Night… Documentary
In ‘Sting – A Winter’s Night … Documentary’, the artist takes his producer-friend Robert Sadin – and the viewer – on a tour of the places where he grew up in and around Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne in northern England, and reunites with so.