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…

Songs of Love and Desire was the theme of the 1998 New Year's Eve concert of the Berlin Philharmonic under the musical direction of Claudio Abbado. Christine Schäfer, Simon Keenlyside, and Marcelo Àlvarez excelled in famous arias and scenes from…

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…

Cole Porter is one of the most famous American artists of the past century. Surprisingly, this new film is the first in-depth documentary that gives a unique insight into his life and work. Porter expert Wilfried van den Brande travels in Porter’s…

Seldom has the genius of one man so influenced the musical conscience of his age. Leonard Bernstein triumphed as composer, conductor, writer and teacher. The spontaneous joy of his Broadway hits, the bold, spiritual quest of his orchestral works, his…