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.
Legendary conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim speaks more candidly than he has ever done before about his life and music. Told entirely through interviews with the maestro, the film starts with his earliest musical experiences as a child piano prodigy in Buenos Aires, before following his meteoric rise to fame, including his encounters with other musical giants such as Nadia Boulanger and Arthur Rubinstein, who gave the 14-year-old Daniel his first vodka and cigar! We also learn of Barenboim's move to Israel when he was a teenager, where he lived a double life as a musical genius and an ordinary schoolboy. He then talks with unusual intimacy about his relationship with cellist Jacqueline du Pre and her long battle with multiple sclerosis. The film also charts Barenboim's stellar career as an orchestral conductor, his move into opera and the founding of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Edward Said.
Portrait of an exceptional musical talent and one of opera’s biggest stars, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli. With interviews from her illustrious friends and colleagues from the world of classical music: Daniel Barenboim, Antonio Pappano, Gustavo Dudamel and more.
Daniel Barenboim is an Argentine-Israeli pianist and conductor who is a citizen of Argentina, Israel, Palestine, and Spain. He is the general music director of the Berlin State Opera, and the Staatskapelle Berlin; he previously served as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris and La Scala in Milan. Barenboim is known for his work with the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, a Seville-based orchestra of young Arab and Israeli musicians, and as a resolute critic of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. He has won seven Grammy awards for his work and discography. Barenboim is a polyglot, fluent in Spanish, Hebrew, English, French, Italian, and German. The music conductor is a citizenship of Argentina, Israel, Palestine, and Spain. Barenboim currently lives in Berlin.