"There are today magnificent virtuosos, the Yitzhak Perlmans, Vadim Repins,Hilary Hahns, Maxime Vengerovs and the like, but none of them, in my opinion, bears the indisputable mark of that which made the intensely original art of the great violinists…

The dramatic story of an inspired violinist, of a loyal man whose self-imposed silence eloquently betrayed unspoken private suffering. This extensive profile features interviews with David Oistrakh's longtime friends and fellow musicians: Yehudi…

This film traces the unlikely journey of a lock of hair cut from Beethoven's corpse and unravels the mystery of his tortured life and death. The film begins in modern times when a pair of Beethoven enthusiasts, Ira Brilliant and Dr Alfredo “Che”…

The film recounts the life of the composer Dmitri Shostakovich from the perspective of a film director, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl, who is shooting a movie about Shostakovich. While editing the film, the director shifts through scenes from feature…

In the mid 19th century, the free spirited gypsy cigarerra from the Tabaco factory of Seville scandalizes the world and right away becomes a symbol of the modern, independent woman. For more than a century musicians, singers, directors, researchers…

He has performed in 3,400 performances in over 130 roles, and conducted upwards of 450 performances; is General Director of both the Washington National and Los Angeles Operas. In opera terms you just can’t climb any higher than Plácido Domingo. Now…

Not since Paganini had there been such a magician on the violin. We see never-seen-before vintage filmed performance clips and home movies of Jascha Heifetz and learn that he was the first truly modern violin virtuoso, the man about whom Itzhak…

To celebrate the occasion of his 200th birthday on 1 March 2010, this film shows little known facets of Frédéric Chopin: the passionate opera fan, the admirer of the great female singers of his time, the advocate of the aesthetics of bel canto – the…

Gioacchino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle was written in 1863, "the last", the composer called it, of my "péchés de vieillesse" (sins of old age). For its first performance (1864) Rossini arranged the work with only two pianos and harmonium…

It was on the spur of the moment that András Schiff and a few of his friends decided to establish the Cappella. The pianist’s quirky humour is reflected in the rather ambiguous name of the ensemble, “Andrea Barca”. Schiff is fond of telling the story…