Age of Heroes

Michael Kamen conducts the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in support of metal rockers Metallica in this 1999 concert performance.

Journey with the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor Sir Simon Rattle on a breakneck concert tour of six metropolises across Asia: Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. Their artistic triumph onstage belies a dynamic and dramatic life backstage. The orchestra is a closed society that observes its own laws and traditions, and in the words of one of its musicians is, “an island, a democratic microcosm – almost without precedent in the music world - whose social structure and cohesion is not only founded on a common love for music but also informed by competition, compulsion and the pressure to perform to a high pitch of excellence... .” Never before has the Berlin Philharmonic allowed such intimate and exclusive access into its private world.

Following the maestro’s inspiring journey from ten-year-old budding conductor to the pinnacle of the opera world, the film captures the alchemy of the creative process and explores what it means to refine the soul of an artist.

Heleno has a disease unknown to most of the population. In the course of their suffocating routine, situations arise that defy the usual in society. But is it really Heleno's illness that prevents him from adapting to the world?

RHYTHM IS IT! records the first big educational project of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle. The orchestra ventured out of the ivory tower of high culture into boroughs of low life for the sake of 250 youngsters. They had been strangers to classical music, but after arduous but thrilling preparation they danced to Stravinsky's 'Le Sacre du Printemps' ('The Rite of Spring'). Recorded with a breathtaking fidelity of sound, this film from Thomas Grube and Enrique Sánchez Lansch documents the stages of the Sacre project and offers deep insights into the rehearsals of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Imperfect Harmony is a film about musical control, explored through a clash between two maestros: avant-garde rebel and Holland’s best-known composer, Louis Andriessen, and chief conductor at Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons. Half a century ago Andriessen vowed he would never compose for a symphony orchestra again. But, against all the odds and after much deliberation, he has agreed to do so. The occasion is the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s 125th jubilee year concert and the commission is a present from the Concertgebouw to the orchestra.

During the unique world tour of the RCO celebrating its jubilee in 2013 we meet musicians and concertgoers. The tour develops not just into a journey across the globe but also as a trip to the core of classical music, a quest for the palette of emotions which only classical music can arouse. In 2013 the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra tours the whole world to celebrate its 125th anniversary: 50 concerts spread over 6 continents. Unbounded passion and love for music brings musicians and concert goers together. Documentary maker Heddy Honigmann lands with the orchestra in Buenos Aires, Soweto and St Petersburg and shows how the ensemble succeeds in gaining the hearts of people with a different cultural background. A journey to the kernel and the power of music which knows how to touch unexpected emotions and which helps to overcome the pain of living.

The documentary accompanied the work of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.

La Coronela (1940). Punto de partida

ONE OK ROCK with Orchestra Japan Tour 2018 features the final performance of the special concert held at Osaka-jo Hall in October 2018, where the band performed with a 53-member orchestra, alongside footage from the Saitama Super Arena show. The release also includes a 100-page booklet packed with newly shot member photos, commentary, live reports, and interviews with the production team, offering a deeply engaging read.

Attrazione d'Amore is a touching illustration of the unique relation that has developed between the Conductor Riccardo Chailly and his famous Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Voyage to Cythera navigates through wonderful musical quotes made of performances conducted by Berio, rehearsals, archival documents and interviews featuring Riccardo Chailly and Louis Andriessen.

El Sistema is a network of childrens and youth orchestras, music centres and workshops in Venezuela, in which more than 250,000 children and young people are currently learning to play an instrument. It was set up over thirty years ago by José Antonio Abreu, who was driven by the utopian vision of a better future. In the dangerous and poverty-stricken shanty towns of Caracas, Abreu lifts children out of poverty through music, changing both people and structures. The film El Sistema shows how Abreus astonishing ideas have led the way out of the vicious circle of poverty - and how the power of music has been able to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people.

A recording of the performance of the symphonic poem entitled Fairy Tale by Stanislaw Moniuszko at the ‘Ursus’ Factory in Warsaw. It took place in 1952 and was performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Witold Rowecki.

Davina McCall chats to Ariana Grande in this musical extravaganza. Ariana performs songs from her latest album Sweetener and some of her biggest hits accompanied by her band and an all-female orchestra.

A selection of classical favourites with a strong flavour of time and space. Join Freema Agyeman (aka Martha Jones), and others from the Doctor Who cast, for an intergalactic musical adventure - with a little help from Daleks, Cybermen and other aliens from the series!

Take a look behind the curtain to see the vast history and recent renovation of one of Rochester, New York's most famous landmarks. Architects, theater personnel, historians, community leaders, and citizens provide in depth insight from start to finish in one of the most extensive renovations the city has ever seen.

The Italian Character: a film within music and about music. The Italian character is the story of one of the most renowned orchestras in the world, enriched by archive material of the last thirty years about the great conductors who have been performing on the most famous rostrum in Rome.

Ensemble

'The Accordion's Journey' narrates the story of three Colombian musicians. Year after year they participate in the world's largest competitive accordion festival, held in Valledupar, Colombia. But they never win. One day a letter arrives, inviting them to play alongside the legendary Hohner Accordion Orchestra in Trossingen, Germany, the birthplace of the 'Corona', Colombia's most popular accordion. It's the first time abroad for our three heroes and they discover a very different culture, a first encounter with snow and ice and make new friends. But will their adventure help them in winning the accordion festival back in Valledupar?

Rumba Rules, New Genealogies offers an enjoyable, rough-edged glimpse into the music scene of Kinshasa, with impromptu shots drawing the viewer into jam sessions on plastic chairs, and the quest for perfection at the studio.