The film tells the story of classical black singing set against the background of black emancipation in politics and society. We hear the great Afro-American singers talk about their views. Historical and contemporary film extracts.

In this recording, renowned pianist András Schiff gives a captivating performance of Schumann's Kreisleriana Op. 16. Drawing on his vast experience as a performer, Schiff brings to life the beauty, emotion, and complexity of Schumann's romantic piano…

Italian pianist Andrea Lucchesini performs some of Chopin’s most famous pieces for piano. Lucchesini's playing is both technically virtuosic and emotionally charged, capturing the beauty and grandeur of Chopin's compositions with grace and poise.

In 1741 Johann Sebastian Bach published the fourth and last volume of his most extensive keyboard publication, the Clavier-Übung: an aria and thirty variations known universally as the ‘Goldberg’ Variations. This monumental work, which is about…

Musical encounters with Barbara Hendricks on tour in Eastern Europe with several Eastern European vocal masterworks in her musical repertoire. Our film documents this encounter between Western artists and Eastern Europe, both in the concert hall and…

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”…

In March of 2004, the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London cancelled its contract with Deborah Voigt. The official reason given by the casting director: too fat. The opera world was outraged. Since when can't opera singers be overweight? Since Callas…

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…

One of the world's finest and most-respected conductors, seventy-year-old Claudio Abbado is legendary in stature, having held the post of musical director with La Scala in Milan from 1968 to 1986, with the Vienna Opera from 1986 to 1991, and the…

Bruno Monsaingeon is famous for getting up close and personal to world-class artists in his documentaries. In this invaluable historical document, he offers the audience an intimate portrait of living-legend violinist Yehudi Menuhin - talking about…