Acting
In present-day Los Angeles, controversial stand-up comedian Henry McHenry and internationally renowned opera singer Ann Defrasnoux form the façade of a happy couple in the spotlight. Ann gives birth to a baby girl named Annette, who possesses an exceptional gift that will change all of their lives forever.
Louis Andriessen's opera, based on Dante's Divine Comedy, plays out as a combination of a stage production and filmed elements, which sees Dante as a journalist, Beatrice as a Diplomat and Lucifer as a factory owner.
Hartley's conscientious assistant in Berlin receives weekly letters from her boss and sends him the books he needs as he struggles in Amsterdam to create the staging for Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's opera, "La commedia."
Winter 2012 - Committed against her will in a psychiatric hospital in Tehran, Iranian psychoanalyst Mitra Kadivar begins a correspondence by email with Jacques-Alain Miller, founder of the World Association of Psychoanalysis. Summer 2017 - An artistic team creates an opera inspired by these exchanges while absorbing the reality of the Montperrin psychiatric hospital in Aix-en-Provence.
The first ever staging of Jörg Widmann's opera Babylon. Presented by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, directed by Carlus Padrissa (La Fura dels Baus).
During Marian Anderson's historic concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, a white man and a black woman fall in love. During the turbulent half-century that follows, they try to protect their three musically gifted children from prejudices they themselves have suffered. Belgian avant-garde jazz pianist and composer Kris Defoort’s new opera is a fascinating symbiosis between jazz and classical music deeply rooted in the now. Inspired by Richard Powers' great American novel, The Time of Our Singing tells the story of a mixed-race family against the backdrop of racial segregation in the USA. In the world premiere at La Monnaie, Ted Hoffman's production lets official history and intimate stories collide to explore issues of identity, race and art.
The moon landing is juxtaposed to Dante and Beatrice's journey through paradise in this visual oratorio composed by Jacob ter Veldhuis.
No description available.
The film On a Warm Day in July (2015) was shot at the Wolfers Hotel in Brussels, with American soprano singer Claron McFadden. The elements that constitute the main motifs of this work are breath, space and the emptiness of the architecture; the performer freely improvises a sung piece inspired by a 17th century chant.
In the historic Weimar Herder Church Sir John Eliot Gardiner finds the perfect setting for his recording of the Bach Christmas Oratorio. Against the backdrop of the dramatic altar and Lucas Granach paintings, the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists perform Gardiner's new interpretation of this classic piece. For the renowned conductor, this Weimar concert is a special performance, marking the start of his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. With this new interpretation of the Christmas Oratorio, Gardiner shows himself once again to be an incontestible specialist of Bach's music. Including two complementary documentaries: J.S. Bach: Jauchzet, frohlocket! An Introduction to the Christmas Oratorio presenting the best performers in their field, including John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir founded by him, the English Baroque Soloists, as well as other internationally-known vocal soloists.
