3B-Produktion

This film portrait of organist Iveta Apkalna reveals her journey from her native Latvia to the world's greatest stages. Her name is synonymous with virtuosity and complete dedication to music. "Iveta has the ability to bring music to life," says Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. The film shows the contrasts in Iveta Apkalna's professional life — from the glamour of the stage to lonely hours of rehearsal at night. The film features her performances with virtuoso violinist Hilary Hahn, outstanding conductor Paavo Järvi, and contemporary music composer Nico Muhly, as well as audience ovations and adrenaline.

What a prestigious cast for this Brahms evening! Renaud Capuçon and Julia Hagen, two internationally acclaimed artists, first perform the Double Concerto for violin and cello. They are accompanied by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jakub Hrůša. The concert ends in style with Symphony No. 4.

Donald travels to various cities and local restaurants to meet world leaders and local vendors to gain popularity while trying to save his marriage and himself after being hunted by the Mafia

For him, the accordion is like a box in which you can get an entire orchestra in order to always have it on your own. Dynamic portrait of the gifted and charismatic accordionist Martynas Levickis.

A group of women in Austin, Texas join forces and help build a movement of plaintiffs legally challenging the system that allowed their rapists to walk free. Their groundbreaking class-action lawsuit is the first to argue that sexual assault isn’t prosecuted due to gender discrimination. This is the landmark story of women fighting to hold law enforcement accountable, with resounding relevance worldwide.

With his wild hair, Jean Rondeau is a rock star of the harpsichord. Profile of the young French harpsichord player who is breathing new life into an instrument that is too often ignored.

One of the first US born conductors to receive worldwide fame, Leonard Bernstein is an exceptional composer and certainly not only due to The West Side Story. Instead of concentrating exclusively on his most famous work, Thomas von Steinaecker sets out to paint a complete picture of Bernstein. Thus, the documentary focusses on the American’s less known later works and on three compositions in particular: his Mass, the musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the great final opera A Quiet Place. The film paints a vivid picture of the multitalented Bernstein, struggling with his role as composer and conductor, tackling the tension between successes and flops, between the politics of his time and his own liberal humanitarian claim. It looks back on Bernstein’s major achievements, such as his acclaimed conducting of Mahler and his involvement in the Young People’s Concerts, and it shows Bernstein’s work with young aspiring musicians as well as his political commitment.

We look back at more than half a century of mysterious artistic creation while trying to crack a unique artistic code. Why are people moved to tears when Robert “Bob” Wilson puts minimalistic petrol pumps into a production of Shakespeare’s sonnets? Why does merciless repetition change our understanding of something? Together with Tom Waits, Willem Dafoe or Marina Abramović we trace back our own experience of Bob’s art. Is it true what Philipp Glass the collaborator of the milestone piece “Einstein on the Beach” laughingly and with apparent pleasure exclaims “what does it mean? It doesn’t mean anything!”?

The amazing story of electronic music: its epic journey from its origins in Europe, at the hands of the great artists of the post-war classical avant-garde, to the great post-industrial cities of the USA, where this genre of genres took over music stores, shady clubs and, eventually, the big stages.

Three young prodigies and their families exploring the popular and competitive world of piano playing in China.

The stories of Jewish cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who survived Auschwitz, and of star conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who worked with the Nazis, provide insight. The film centers around two people who represent musical culture during the Third Reich - albeit in very different ways. Wilhelm Furtwängler was a star conductor; Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, the cellist of the infamous Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz. Both shared a love for the classical German music.

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli – a name that provokes almost a sense of awe and intimidation, even among his pianoplaying peers. It is a name that represents the highest degree of perfection, a quest for beauty that surpasses that of any other piano virtuoso. However Michelangeli also had a reputation for cancelling concerts at short notice and was consequently portrayed in the media as a somewhat neurotic artist. This documentary is the result of a 30-year search that has resulted in unusual interviews with those who knew him, and has also uncovered a wealth of new archive material: We get to experience Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli as he has never been seen before – and more importantly, as he has never been heard before. We also witness the maestro’s struggle back to his former perfection after suffering a devastating heart attack.

The I Solisti Veneti ensemble and trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary perform works by three masters of the Venetian Baroque, Antonio Vivaldi, Tomaso Albinoni and Alessandro Marcello, in the Hamburg St Michael's Church. At the end of the concert, Lucienne Renaudin Vary demonstrates the versatility of her instrument with two pieces by Astor Piazzolla. Chapters: - Tomaso Albinoni – Concerto for strings and basso continuo in F major - Antonio Vivaldi – Concerto in D major op. 3 no. 9, version for trumpet, strings and basso continuo - Baldassare Galuppi – Concerto for harpsichord and strings in C major - Antonio Vivaldi – Concerto for four violins, strings and basso continuo in B minor - Alessandro Marcello – Concerto for trumpet in C minor - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari – Serenade for strings - Astor Piazzolla - Tanti Anni Prima, transcription for trumpet and strings - Astor Piazzolla – Oblivion for trumpet and strings - Astor Piazzolla - Chau Paris (Zugabe)