Short Rides with John Adams

Understanding how the musical world was impacted by the World War I.

A group of social welfare workers led by their new director tries to provide necessary aid to people struggling with various problems.

Founded in 1934, the Orchestre national de France is based at the Maison de la Radio in Paris. Currently conducted by Cristian Macelaru, the orchestra owes a great deal to maestros such as Sergiu Celibidache, Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Masur and Daniele Gatti.

The performance of all of Beethoven’s symphonies in the autumn of 2015 was a high point in the collaboration of the Berliner Philharmoniker and its chief conductor, Sir Simon Rattle. The film Living with Beethoven accompanies the ascent of this “Mount Everest” (Rattle) with many views behind the scenes. The conductor and orchestra musicians all contribute, clearly inspired by the desire to make the often performed works sound again as if they were just written.

On June 8, 2024, Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for a performance of Arthur Honegger’s oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher (Joan of Arc at the Stake), conducted by Alan Gilbert, performed at the Berliner Philharmonie in Berlin, Germany and broadcast live on Digital Concert Hall, the online concert hall of the Berliner Philharmonie. In the oratorio, Joan of Arc looks back on her life, her visions, and her successes during a show trial in which she is sentenced to be burned at the stake.

Clara Schumann led an almost cinematic life as the daughter of a strict and ambitious father, as an internationally extremely successful pianist, as the wife of a famous composer and as the mother of seven children.