Le Concerto de Mozart

Acclaimed pianist Víkingur Ólafsson shares his deep connection with music, from Icelandic songs to the works of Bach, Mozart, Rameau, and Philip Glass. He explores how these pieces shaped him and how his feelings differ when performing works like the Goldberg Variations or Bartok’s Folk Song. Ólafsson invites us into his world where musical knowledge, Nordic roots, and creativity merge in his interpretations.

Jiří Bělohlávek: But I just love conducting so much

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.

Told in three unique stories, Songs of Love from Hawaii is a hybrid historical drama that uncovers the journeys of Hawaii's first Korean immigrants. From picture bride Lim Ok Soon to those isolated in Kalaupapa, their tales of love, sacrifice, and resilience come alive through stunning performances by world-class musicians and rare archival images against Hawaii's breathtaking landscapes.

Zubin Mehta is one of the most charismatic conductors of our time. A citizen of the world with many facets: Indian culture and Parsi spirituality, North American lifestyle and European musical tradition. The portrait accompanies Zubin Mehta to current places of activity and important stages of his life. [arte.de]

Leonard Bernstein’s protégée Marin Alsop reveals how she smashed the glass ceiling to become an internationally renowned conductor.

Study of the work of the conductor Václav Neumann and his creative process with the orchestra.

A look back at the violent conflict between the two leading figures of musical modernity, Arnold Schönberg and Igor Stravinsky, in the first decades of the 20th century. Although Arnold Schönberg and Igor Stravinsky both had a decisive influence on the fourth art, their creations remained diametrically opposed. While the Austrian developed the dodecaphonic method, placing the twelve notes of the chromatic scale at the heart of the composition technique to the detriment of tonality, his Russian rival based his practice on stylistic eclecticism. Their supporters formed two opposing camps, and the two composers - one the father of the Second Viennese School, the other of Neoclassicism - became, in the wake of their successes, the figureheads of a conflict that marked the history of music by its duration and intensity.

Documentary about Soviet-born pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Documentary on the life and career of violinist Itzhak Perlman, including interviews, archival footage, and concert performances.

Known for his mournful "Adagio for Strings," Samuel Barber was never quite fashionable. This acclaimed film is a probing exploration of his music and melancholia. Performance, oral history, musicology, and biography combine to explore the life and music of one of America’s greatest composers. Features Thomas Hampson, Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop and many more of the world's leading experts on Barber's music, with tributes from composers Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and William Schuman. The film was broadcast on PBS, and screened at nine film festivals internationally, with three best-of awards. It was named a Recording of the Year 2017 by MusicWeb International.

An account of the life and work of controversial German orchestra conductor Herbert von Karajan (1908-89), celebrated as one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century.

Tibor Frešo

Documentary about sixteen great conductors of the 20th century.

In this short film, made on the occasion of a visit by Maurice Hasson to Mérida to perform in concert, he evokes in a warm conversation his indelible memories and deeply human experiences of his life in Mérida.

When young musicians come together to play classical music, they send out a strong signal to our today’s world. The film follows talented young Swiss musicians as they work, search for inspiration, but also expose their thought how to play nowadays the “old” Classical music.

La Coronela (1940). Punto de partida

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.

Leonard Bernstein narrated by legendary screen star Lauren Bacall. The movie also relies extensively on Bernstein's own words to provide the counterpoint to the abundant visual material. Highlights include excerpts of Bernstein conducting masterworks by Beethoven and Mahler, as well as of the maestro with the New York Philharmonic in Moscow in 1959 before an audience which included composer Dmitri Shostakovich and the dissident poet Boris Pasternak. It also contains never-before-seen footage, such as outtakes from televised concerts and interviews. Among these special treats: the dashing 28-year-old maestro representing the U.S. at the 1947 Prague Spring Festival – possibly the earliest extant film of Leonard Bernstein.