Susan Froemke

The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

"The Love We Make", a film directed by Albert Maysles ("Gimme Shelter") and Bradley Kaplan, follows Paul McCartney as he journeys through the streets of New York City in the aftermath of the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. It also chronicles the planning and performance of the benefit concert that took place less than six months after the attacks: "The Concert For New York City".

The Beatles First US Visit uniquely chronicles the inside story of the two remarkable weeks when Beatlemania first ignited America. The pioneering Maysles Brothers who filmed at the shoulders of John, Paul, George and Ringo, innovated an intimate documentary style of film-making which set the benchmark for rock and roll cinematography that remains to this day.

Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

An exclusive musical comedy event showcasing the antics of the entire cast and crew of the hit Broadway show The Producers. Includes exclusive candid behind-the-scenes footage, 14 song performances, and much more, all hosted by Mel Brooks.

In this documentary, award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke explores the creation of the Metropolitan Opera’s storied home of the last five decades. Drawing on rarely seen archival footage, stills, and recent interviews, The Opera House looks at an important period of the Met’s history and delves into some of the untold stories of the artists, architects, and politicians who shaped the cultural life of New York City in the ’50s and ’60s. Among the notable figures in the film are famed soprano Leontyne Price, who opened the new Met in 1966 in Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra; Rudolf Bing, the Met’s imperious General Manager who engineered the move from the old house to the new one; Robert Moses, the unstoppable city planner who bulldozed an entire neighborhood to make room for Lincoln Center; and Wallace Harrison, whose quest for architectural glory was never fully realized.

Wagner's Dream-the documentary highlighting the creative process and technical aspects involved in realizing Robert LePage’s production of the MET's newest staging of Wagner's ring cycle is highly enjoyable and provides the viewer with much fascinating information about how this production evolved from nascent ideas to brilliant performances. Most opera lovers had to be intrigued by the amazing hybridization of animation and the technologically complex use of "The Machine" to make these operas come alive with astonishing sets that are true to Wagner's intentions for his monumental ring cycle. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this video and wished there was another hour or two (like a Wagnerian opera!).

Assembled by some of the nation's top documentary filmmakers, this centerpiece film in HBO's 'Addiction' campaign features insights from experts on trends and treatments in the ongoing battle against drug and alcohol abuse. This documentary consists of nine segments that focus on case studies and cutting-edge treatments that challenge traditional beliefs about addiction.

Documentary about conceptual artist Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude's attempt to "wrap" the Pont-Neuf in Paris.

Late Academy Award–winning director Anthony Minghella made his Met debut on Opening Night of the 2006–07 season, with a now-classic staging of Puccini’s perennial heartbreaker Madama Butterfly. This documentary follows the production’s creation—from the Met’s subterranean rehearsal rooms to the main stage and on to the premiere—as Minghella worked with the opera’s stars, soprano Cristina Gallardo-Domâs as Cio-Cio-San and tenor Marcello Giordani as Pinkerton.

A stimulating study which features concert footage and interviews with the master pianist. Includes many of his favorite pieces.

Our healthcare system is broken. Potent forces fight to maintain the status quo in a medical industry created for quick fixes, rather than prevention; for profit-driven, rather than patient-driven, care. Healthcare is at the center of an intense political firestorm in our nation's capital. But the current battle over cost and access does not ultimately address the root of the problem: we have a disease-care system, not a health-care one. After decades of opposition, a movement to introduce innovative high-touch, low-cost methods of prevention and healing is finally gaining ground.

An intensely personal exploration of an explosive issue -- abortion in America. Wrenching first-person narratives from seven decades of women, each one facing an unplanned pregnancy -- and the dreadful decision that no one wants to make. Both pro-life and pro-choice, both out front on the picket line and inside the clinic, these women's stories turn politics into heart-searing drama: a pregnant 17-year-old and her pro-life mother whose conflict unfolds in front of the camera; a 22-year-old who became a pro-life protester when she learned that her mother nearly aborted her; an unhappy mother-of-two who's expecting a third when her marriage suddenly hits the rocks; a 71-year-old grandmother who still grieves for her mother, an early victim of illegal abortion. In this fusion of past and present, the history of abortion is the history of women -- told at a time in America when yesterday's back-alley abortions may be the only choice left for tomorrow.

The stakes could not be higher as visionary director Robert Lepage, the world's greatest singers, and the Metropolitan Opera tackle Wagner's Ring cycle. An intimate look at the enormous theatrical and musical challenges of staging opera's most monumental work, the film chronicles the quest to fulfill Wagner's dream of a perfect Ring.

This incredible look at the preparation and production of a Live in HD cinema transmission takes you behind the scenes of the new Cav/Pag with the HD director, host, stars, and crew for an up-close view of the exciting process behind the Met's extraordinary HD presentations.

This heartbreaking documentary depicts the extreme poverty of an African-American family and their Mississippi Delta school district. LaLee's Kin takes us deep into the Mississippi Delta and the intertwined lives of LaLee Wallace, a great-grandmother struggling to hold her world together in the face of dire poverty, and Reggie Barnes, superintendent of the embattled West Tallahatchie School System. The film explores the painful legacy of slavery and sharecropping in the Delta.

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.

Accent on the Offbeat is a cinema vérité film about the creation and premiere of the ballet Jazz (Six Syncopated Movements), composed by trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis and choreographed by Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins of the New York City Ballet. A focus of the film is the remarkable contrast - in background, temperament, style and creative approach - between Martins and Marsalis as they unite the disparate worlds of ballet and jazz.

From the Montana Rockies to the wheat fields of Kansas and the Gulf of Mexico, families who work the land and sea are crossing political divides to find unexpected ways to protect the natural resources vital to their livelihoods. These are the new heroes of conservation, deep in America's heartland.

Documentary showing the return to his native Russia of Mstislav Rostropovitch, includes extensive performance footage and coverage of political and personal matters for the cellist.