| Number |
Programme |
Category |
| 20 |
Lang Lang in Vienna
 C Major Entertainment
 Sony (Producer)
 Germany
 Chris Weiss
 -
 124'
|
Music on the TV screen (Music and dance programmes, including live concert recordings
Synopsis
‘The most popular pianist on the planet’ performs at the stunning Musikverein in Vienna, recorded for the first time at a special TV recital! Lang Lang plays works by Beethoven (Sonata op. 2, no.3 and Sonata op. 23 ‘Appassionata’), Albeniz (Iberia Book 1), Prokofiev (Sonata no. 7) and Chopin. The programme also includes special backstage features, interviews and much more. ‘To his millions of fans worldwide the 27-year-old Chinese musician is a God-like star, whose skill and energetic performance style put him in a league of his own.’ (CNN)
|
| 19 |
Russian Songs
C Major Entertainment Unitel (Producer) in coproduction with ZDF/arte Germany Elisabeth Malzer - 70
|
Music on the TV screen (Music and dance programmes, including live concert recordings
Synopsis
Star soprano Anna Netrebko and world-renown pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim celebrating a ‘Russian Evening’ at the famous Berlin Philharmonic Hall. On the programme: songs by Russian composers Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Peter Tchaikovsky. It is nearly impossible to imagine a programme more dedicated to the exceptional singer and her sensitive pianist. Anna Netrebko as a young girl, crossed in love, a desperate woman abandoned by her lover. Her voice is always authentic whilst Daniel Barenboim accompanies her on her way to the hearts of the audience with great intuition. A high class evening, full of unforgettable musical and
emotional moments!
|
| 18 |
King Roger
C Major Entertainment A production of ORF, SF, TPC and UNITEL in coproduction with CLASSICA Germany Felix Breisach / David Pountney - 89
|
Music on the TV screen (Music and dance programmes, including live concert recordings
Synopsis
It’s hard to believe that this ‘Król Roger’ had
been neglected for so long!” The prestigious
“Opernwelt” was not alone in welcoming
the belated rediscovery of Polish composer
Karol Szymanowski’s (1882–1937) masterpiece
of 1926, which resonates with echoes of Late-
Romanticism and Expressionism, Richard Strauss
and Richard Wagner. Presented at the Festival
Hall of the Bregenz Festival in a production by
festival director David Pountney, this musical rarity, a combination of opera, oratorio and mystery theater, tells the story of 12th-century Sicilian King Roger, who is led astray by a mysterious shepherd who preaches a life of unrestrained hedonism. Director David Pountney delivers an uncommonly riveting production.
|
| 17 |
Aida
C Major Entertainment A production of ORF, SF, TPC and UNITEL in coproduction with CLASSICA Germany Felix Breisach / Graham Vick - 131'
|
Music on the TV screen (Music and dance programmes, including live concert recordings
Synopsis
Set against the magnificent backdrop of Lake Constance, every production at the Bregenz Festival faces strong natural competition. But with this first-ever production of Verdi’s “Aida” (in an abridged version) on the lakeside stage, it is easy to overlook the beauty of the surrounding nature. Stage director Graham Vick and set designer Paul Brown conjure up an “open-air spectacle of superlatives” (Die Zeit) that throws a bridge between ancient Egypt and today’s U.S. The stage effects are stunning: ruins of the Statue of Liberty pieced together with the help of giant cranes, boats carrying priestesses and prisoners – parts of the opera even take place in the lake itself! And in the Grand March – one of the most famous marches in opera – a golden elephant comes sailing into view on a barge… Under Carlo Rizzi, the Wiener Symphoniker brilliantly support the chorus and soloists, among whom Iano Tamar (Amneris) and Tatiana Serjan (Aida) stand out. Drawing capacity crowds of over 200,000 spectators in just one season, “Aida” is the festival’s most successful opera to date, even more successful than the “Tosca” production,
which has been immortalized in the James Bond
film “Quantum of Solace”.
|
| 16 |
Rienzi - Der Letzte der Tribunen
C Major Entertainment A production of UNITEL
in co-production with ZDF/Arte and CLASSICA Germany Johannes Grebert / Philipp Stölzl - 150'
|
Music on the TV screen (Music and dance programmes, including live concert recordings
Synopsis
Richard Wagner’s early opera “Rienzi” is stylistically closer to Meyerbeer and bel canto than to Wagner’s later masterworks. Yet even this early work – especially as presented in this recording from the Deutsche Oper Berlin – is “so fantastically beautiful that it takes one’s breath away” (Berliner Zeitung). And in this staging by Philipp Stölzl, who condensed the five-act opera into a little over two hours, “Rienzi” becomes a startlingly powerful and timeless parable of power and abuse. Though the story of the rise and fall of a charismatic leader and his totalitarian regime takes place in 14th-century Rome, Stölzl sets it somewhere in the recent past. The topic “anticipates the history of the 20th century in a visionary way”, says Stölzl, adding that “one can make surprising analogies to many despots of this time: Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, and Ceausescu.”
|
| 15 |
André Previn - A Bridge Between Two Worlds
C Major Entertainment A production of
DOR Film and UNITEL
in co-production with ORF
and CLASSICA Germany Lillian Birnbaum, Peter Stephan Jungk Christoph Mayr 52'
|
Documentary programmes dedicated to music and dance
Synopsis
What do Renée Fleming, Anne-Sophie Mutter and “My Fair Lady” have in common? They all owe part of their success to Sir André Previn, one of the most multi-talented and prominent musicians of our time. In this intimate portrait of the musician, we become acquainted with a composer of music of all genres, a conductor, arranger, pianist and jazz musician. Previn was incredibly successful in all of these artistic undertakings, and won, among countless awards, four Oscars and 13 Oscar nominations. The film shows how Previn is at home in two worlds and two cultural identities, America and Europe. Born in Berlin in 1929, Sir André fled to the United States with his family before the outbreak of the war.
|
| 14 |
The Most Beautiful Operas Of All Time
C Major Entertainment SMP Signed Media Production for ZDFtheaterkanal, 3sat and Unitel Classica Germany Dag Freyer, Andreas Dutschke, Jürgen Schindler, Nicole Kraack, Matthias Schmidt, Nils Negendank - 300'
|
Documentary programmes dedicated to music and dance
Synopsis
Ten exciting 30 minute documentaries on The Most Beautiful Operas of All Time, selected from 30 outstanding opera productions by the audience of ZDFtheaterkanal, 3sat and Classica. With a combination of re-enactments featuring episodes from opera history, archival footage and interviews with specialists, music lovers and performers, the ten opera documentaries give us a comprehensive insight into this immortal genre, while always staying close to the pulse of the opera itself.
|
| 13 |
Sacrificium - The Art of the Castrati
C Major Entertainment Universal Music Classical Management & Productions,
UNITEL, IDEALE AUDIENCE
in coproduction with ZDF, ARTE in association with France Télévisions, DECCA Germany Olivier Simonnet - 60'
|
Music on the TV screen (Music and dance programmes, including live concert recordings
Synopsis
Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, one of the most
successful classical artists of her time, is a passionate musical explorer who regularly uncovers thrilling but little-known chapters of music history. This time her in-depth research takes her on a fascinating expedition into the world of castrato singers. The legendary art of the castratos continues to exert a strong fascination today, and, despite the great human sacrifice it exacted, this extraordinary period justifies the new assessment that she delivers. As Naples was the center of this flourishing “castrato factory”, Cecilia Bartoli selected works chiefly from the Neapolitan school for this program. They are some of the most difficult and virtuoso pieces ever written for the human voice.
|
| 10 |
Grace Jones Plays Avo Session
C Major Entertainment Avo Session Basel (Production) Germany Roli Bärlocher - 58'
|
Music on the TV screen (Music and dance programmes, including live concert recordings
Synopsis
“Her Royal Graceness is back.” (BBC) Over the past few months, a figure so dominant and iconic has returned to the forefront of our social consciousness. Model, actress, performer, entertainer, singer, producer, writer – with her new album Hurricane, Ms. Grace Jones has been reaffirming herself as the superstar she has always been. Prepare for the storm – the Hurricane is coming. In October 2008 Grace Jones released her first studio album in nearly twenty years. “With Hurricane Grace Jones tosses aside the clubbing hits that launched her onto the dance floor of Studio 54.” (BBC) At AVO Session Grace Jones performs songs from this album as well as her hits of the last 2 decades.
|
| 5 |
Goudvis: Philip Catherine, The Road to Helsinki
VRT None Belgium Marianne Soetewey Jo Vermaercke, Wim Daniëls & Alex De Backer 52'
|
Documentary programmes dedicated to music and dance
Synopsis
There may be something like a Belgian school of jazz guitarists, starting with Django Reinhardt (1910–1953) via René Thomas (1927–1975) to end – for the time being - with Philip Catherine (°1942). After his debut at a very early age Philip Catherine soon started playing with the leading Belgian jazz players of a previous generation as well as with the most talented musicians of his own generation. He acquired international fame through his work with amongst others the violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, the bass player Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Stéphane Grappelli and such Americans as Charles Mingus and especially Chet Baker. The past decade has seen him as the leader of various formations with among others the bass player Philippe Aerts and trumpet player Bert Joris. He has also produced an album with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra. In recent years he has given concerts as a solo artist and made recordings where he ingeniously accompanied himself by means of electronics. Philip Catherine combines a rather lyrical temperament with a very strong expressivity. Apart from that, he has a wonderful personality with both a special sense of humour and an endearing charm combining a surprising depth and unpredictability.
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