Director
Barbara Hannigan is a renowned soprano and exceptionally talented artist and musician from Canada, who recently has begun an international career as conductor. Making its North American premiere, Taking Risks shows Hannigan preparing to conduct her first opera, Stravinsky’s masterpiece The Rake’s Progress. From auditions to opening night, we follow the journey of a dedicated, passionate, and perceptive woman, taking a behind-the-scenes look at her creative process, with many moments of excitement and magic.
Director
When a woman steps onto the conductor's podium, she is always one of the first: the first to lead a world-class orchestra, the first to conduct the closing night of London's Proms, the first to win the German Conductor Prize. It seems as though the world of orchestral conducting might finally be ready to change its attitudes toward female conductors.
Producer
Music is not "just" music. It can have immense power in good or evil. This documentary by Maria Stodtmeier and Isa Willinger highlights interesting and very current themes about the links between music and politics.
Director
Music is not "just" music. It can have immense power in good or evil. This documentary by Maria Stodtmeier and Isa Willinger highlights interesting and very current themes about the links between music and politics.
Director
El Sistema is a network of childrens and youth orchestras, music centres and workshops in Venezuela, in which more than 250,000 children and young people are currently learning to play an instrument. It was set up over thirty years ago by José Antonio Abreu, who was driven by the utopian vision of a better future. In the dangerous and poverty-stricken shanty towns of Caracas, Abreu lifts children out of poverty through music, changing both people and structures. The film El Sistema shows how Abreus astonishing ideas have led the way out of the vicious circle of poverty - and how the power of music has been able to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people.
Producer
Claudio Abbado conducts the Orchestra Mozart with Giuliano Carmignola, principal violinist, live at the Teatro Municipale Valli, Reggio Emilia, April 21, 2007
