The film "Shadows in Paradise" portrays the vibrant atmosphere of the Los Angeles German-speaking exile community during the 1930s and 1940s, revealing their struggles, frustrations and achievements. By 1939 tens of thousands of intellectuals and…

Roman Zaslavsky understands how to contrast the two ingenious opposites Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt side by side, on one recording giving each one his due, thus offering a completely new approach to their music and also to two rather different…

Roman Zaslavsky is a master of piano technique that espouses nuance without resorting to arbitrary mannerisms. He first gained recognition by taking 1st prize - the Primer Gran Premio - at the José Iturbi International Music Competition in Valencia…

In a little street in Brussels, two identical buildings stand together. In one of these buildings lives the famous concert pianist Martha Argerich. Next door we find the Tiempo – Lechner family, renowned by their lineage of piano prodigies. The…

Violinist, composer and conductor, living through two world wars, caught between east and west, capitalism and communism: The remarkable and glittering life of German artist Paul Dessau is more than a good story – it cries out for the medium of film…

Samba is more than dance and lascivious hip movements. Samba is also word, language, text, lyrics or simply said a certain way of life. The composer and singer Martinho da Vila is guiding us through today’s world of Samba and we meet with his Samba…

World famous bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi prepares for a staging of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni at Bolgogna’s historic Teatro Comunale, working alongside conductor Riccardo Chailly and stage director Luca Ronconi as well as a distinguished cast of…

‘My Favourite Opera – Barbara Hendricks’ intertwines three related strands: firstly the distinguished soprano Barbara Hendricks discusses her international career as a singer; secondly we follow the preparation for the 1990 production of Donizetti’s…

‘My Favourite Opera – Katia Ricciarelli’, which will be released in May 2013, portraits the Italian star soprano Katia Ricciarelli. Katia Ricciarelli is best known for her roles in Rossini, Verdi and Puccini Operas but also appeared as Desdemona in…

Max Lorenz was at the height of his career as a heldentenor in 1941. As a homosexual with a Jewish wife in Nazi Germany, he would have faced deportation. However, as Hitler’s favourite tenor and a symbol of his times, he was protected by Hitler and…