In 1972, when Vladimir Ashkenazy was at a new peak both in his playing and in his career, we planned with him to shoot two recitals for television, one Chopin and one Beethoven. For quite some time he had been extremely reluctant to perform in…

In 1972, when Vladimir Ashkenazy was at a new peak both in his playing and in his career, we planned with him to shoot two recitals for television, one Chopin and one Beethoven. For quite some time, Ashkenazy had been extremely reluctant to perform…

Vladimir Ashkenazy has had a particular affection for the music of Rachmaninoff throughout his professional life, and his performances have long had the ring both of authenticity and of deep commitment. This is not surprising in a Russian-born and…

A documentary illustrating the unique working relation that has developed between the conductor Riccardo Chailly and his world famous Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The film features rehearsals and performances of works by composers such as Mahler…

"Bach around the world" celebrates in the form of a Pledge Show the great composer and Thomaskantor Johann Sebastian Bach. Impressions of all over the world give an idea of how modern and popular the old music of the composer still is. Whether in…

Recorded live on July 16th from the Freiburg Cathedral, with soprano Barbara Bonney, worldwide renowned for the clarity of her voice and the precision of her diction and baritone Matthias Goerne, whose recent interpretation with Sir Alfred Brendel…

Beck unites all different styles of popular music. His musical world is made of a mixture of urban and rural styles, of coffee-shop-folk, deltablues and hillbilly, post-punk-noise and white hip-hop, folk-funk and high-tech. It's simply a "music of…

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…

Together with Hans Haffmans, Dutch radio and television presenter, Bernard Haitink is reflecting on his long career and his life and he is looking forward to the future. The film turns out to be a very moving portrait of a man who can’t enjoy his…

Much like Rachmaninoff, who struggled to be taken seriously as he stuck to his post-romantic compositional style, in this documentary, Igudesman - also an immigrant and a prolific composer - tries to be honest about the innate insecurities of…