The Backstreet Boys Around The World lives up to its name: in just 100 hours, the Boys went to Stockholm, Tokyo, Sydney, Capetown, and Rio de Janeiro to promote Black & Blue to the delight of fans across the globe. This is the story of that journey.
When an alcoholic musician is taken in by an old friend, it is his last chance to sober up before he loses everything. But can he escape his addiction and his obsession with his ex-girlfriend long enough to appreciate the girl who is trying to save him? Stones is a true life story based on the experiences of singer Alexander McKay.
Tan Dun portrays the Venetian explorer's travels to the Far East as a journey of both inner and physical discovery, a voyage depicting spiritual experiences as well as a geographical expedition. Pierre Audi's mythical staging and Jean Kalman's fabulous set design complement the composer's own musical direction, forging the dazzlingly versatile soloists, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Cappella Amsterdam to a stunning symbiosis of elements across time and space, a true testimony to cultures intertwined in globalization.
Made to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, IN SEARCH OF MOZART is the first feature-length documentary on Mozart's life. Produced with the world's leading orchestras and musicians, told through a 25,000 mile journey along every route Mozart followed, this detective story takes us to the heart of genius. Throughout, it is the music that takes center stage, with the jigsaw of Mozart's life fitting around it.
The musician is late for the Philharmonic, besides, there is no one to leave his daughter with... Meanwhile, the orchestra has already started rehearsing.
Texas Style centers on three generations of Westmoreland family fiddlers, bringing you to the Homecoming, Rodeo, Reunion and Fiddling Contest in Gustine, Texas, where there are armadillo races, tobacco-spitting and frog hopping contests, cow chip throwing and young and old comparing their hog calling skills. Inside a canvas tent, some of Texas' most remarkable fiddlers compete to the foot-stomping delight of their audience.
The story of Cio-Cio-San, called Butterfly, a young Nagasaki geisha who, abandoned by her American lover after giving birth to their son, ultimately kills herself, continues to impress audiences today. In this outstandingly authentic and elegant production from the Sferisterio Opera Festival, Puccini's highly emotional music is expertly delivered. The superior cast is headed by Raffaella Angeletti, "certainly one of the best Butterflies of our time" (ForumOpera.com), who has performed this role in many Italian theatres, as well as in Madrid and at the Vienna Staatsoper.
An exploration of the emergence of L.A.’s “underground” hip hop culture of the late 1990s-early 2000s, recounted first-hand by some of its architects: the creators of Club Elements. Every respected independent MC in the nation came through to Club Elements. This documentary chronicles that vibrant time in Los Angeles’ underground Hip Hop scene and shows a side of L.A.’s subculture that is responsible for an independent movement that spawned a slew of widely recognized and celebrated artists.
When Leipzig pianist Kyra Steckeweh realized that her repertoire almost exclusively consisted of music composed by men, she began searching for pieces written by female composers. Her research in archives, libraries, and publishing houses quickly brought to light a variety of remarkable piano pieces that have been buried in history and rarely performed.
In July 1974, a group of Chicago based blues artists who had already achieved legendary status gathered together with some of their younger "blues brethren" from all over the country to pay tribute to the man most responsible for bringing blues from the Mississippi Delta upriver to Chicago, Muddy Waters. Appearing with Muddy that night were his contemporaries Willie Dixon, Koko Taylor, Junior Wells and Pinetop Perkins, and from the next generation of blues lovers and performers, Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Miles, Johnny Winter, Dr. John, and Nick Gravenites -- all artists who were on their way to becoming legends themselves. What resulted from that joyous teaming was a truly historic session that not only presented some of the greatest blues classics ever written, but a never-to-be-forgotten hour that truly demonstrates the love of music by one generation for another.
'At the end of the day, it remains a secret why some can conduct and others can’t', Sir Georg Solti once said. CONDUCT! explores this secret. The struggle of five young artists for success at the International Conductors Competition in Frankfurt provides real-life drama that tests not only musical abilities but, above all, characters. CONDUCT! explores the secret of conducting with a unique intensity that culminates in a great showdown at Frankfurt’s Opera.
64-year-old Meat Loaf hits the stage in Sydney accompanied by an army of HD cameras filming what he announced to fans would be one of his final trips to perform in Australia/New Zealand. The Set-list: Hot Patootie - Bless My Soul/Time Warp If It Ain't Broke, Break It Bat Out of Hell Peace on Earth Living on the Outside Los Angeloser You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through Stand in the Storm I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) Two Out of Three Ain't Bad Paradise by the Dashboard Light Boneyard/Freebird/All Revved Up medley Mercury Blues +a 30-minute documentary offering a backstage look at Meat in preparation for taking the stage
A once-in-a-moment recording of the rock legends as they performed a surprise gig at the iconic Shepherd’s Bush Empire in June 1999. Announced only as they were preparing to play two nights at nearby behemoth Wembley Stadium that same month, it saw a small crowd of 1800 lucky fans treated to an intimate show in which the band eschewed their big hits in favour of rarely heard gems. This was a gig with many firsts; songs included Saint of Me, I Got the Blues and Brand New Car, while Melody was performed for the first time since 1977 and Moon Is Up brought to the stage for the only time in the band’s live career. Sheryl Crow, who opened the show, joined the band for a special rendition of Honky Tonk Women. As Mick Jagger shouted from the stage that night “If you want to see the hits, go to the big place down the road”. As promised, they didn’t disappoint.
A skateboarding teenager adjusts to living with his estranged father and finding his place in the world, inspired by The Nutcracker and filled with music and dance.
If Mastodon never get around to a greatest hits package, Live at Brixton will do the trick. Captured at a February 2012 gig in London, Brixton finds the Georgia prog-sludge mainstays barreling through 23 choice cuts from their five good-to-classic LPs, 2002's Remission through 2011's The Hunter, a typically remarkable performance from a band whose live prowess rivals their in-studio wizardry. Like most overviews, the song selection's arguable, the impact of even the highest highs altered in their uprooting. But Brixton does the same rep-cementing, catalog-calcifying work a good hits comp is supposed to, further solidifying Mastodon's spot among the greatest big-ticket metal bands going.
A biographical look at the career of the acclaimed Margot Fonteyn. As a little girl called Peggy Hookham growing up in Shanghai, she told her mother she would one day become the greatest dancer in the world. Still performing at the age of 67 despite being almost unable to walk, hers is a story of courage and tenacity, of unbelievable devotion to her art and to those whom she loved. Those who ultimately left her penniless and alone, to be buried in a pauper’s grave.