Newsletter N April - September April 2019 o 48 vibrant andpowerful natureofaculturalmelting pot AMERICAN TAP A uniquely American story thatillustrates the A uniquelyAmerican story PoorhouseINTERNATIONAL Gary Cooper Gary The Irresistible Kuperberg A NewDocumentary

career ofherfather opens uptotalkabouttheacting Maria CooperJanis,Cooper'sdaughter, by JuliaandClara

“At a time when America is ivy films struggling with its cultural identity 2 - when anti-immigrant and nativist sentiment boils over into outright racism and xenophobia - we are compelled to look inward to unpack what it means to be American.” Mark Wilkinson

Mark Wilkinson

Fights of Nations

AMERICAN TAP

Performers include Jason Samuel Smith and This documentary by William Henry Lane aka Master Juba, Aida Mark Wilkinson traces Overton Walker, Bill Bojangles Robinson, John W Bubbles, Baby Laurence, Chuck Green, tap dancing from The Copasetics, Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Ginger Rogers, Anne Miller, Vera its origins, through Ellen and Eleanor Powell. Tap dance experts its evolution, to the and historians round off this entertaining and As we dig into the heritage of American instructive documentary. current form. It is a tap dancing, we discover that elements of our history which have the potential to tear us directed by Mark Wilkinson uniquely American apart - the stigma of slavery and the friction produced by Annunziata Gianzero story that illustrates caused by immigration - are the same forces for Ivy Films Inc. which bind us together and fuel our dynamic the vibrant and society. This shared experience is the cultural running time 58' and 88' Shot in HD fire that forged the art form of tap dancing. powerful nature of We uncover the co-evolution that tap dance our cultural melting shares with jazz music - back to the African slaves and the “ring shout”. We follow and pot. The examination substantiate the importance of the Irish immigrants and their particular form of reveals and informs percussive dance, the Jig. The story carries us through the distorted world of the minstrel many of the very basic show, Vaudeville and onto Broadway at a time concepts and current when tap was the dominant dance form in American culture. That height of popularity is themes of American followed by collapse during the Second World War and its rebirth with Gregory Hines and cultural consciousness. Savion Glover. Ayodele © Patrick Randak

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 wichita films Gary with his personal 16mm camera 3

Gary with Frank Capra

Starring in High Noon Gary Cooper The Irresistible

Born into a highly respected family, both character he played was real and she quotes directed by Julia & Clara Kuperberg his parents had emigrated from England and her father as saying: “If I know who this person settled in Montana where his father served as is I don't have to act”. And indeed actor John produced by Wichita Films Supreme Court Judge, Gary Cooper learnt to Barrymore once said of him: “This fellow is the running time 52' Shot in HD love the outdoor life, horse riding, fishing and world's greatest actor. He does without effort hunting on the family ranch. When the family what the rest of us spend our lives trying to learn York and his second with High Noon playing moved to Los Angeles Cooper, who wanted to – namely to be natural”. And he achieved this Marshall Will Kane. When producer Stanley go to art school, ended up performing stunts by an uncanny ability to project his personality Kramer wanted to withdraw Carl Foreman's and acting in Cowboy Films and Westerners. onto the character he played. We hear that name as screenwriter from the High Noon His break-through came with Wings which Cooper was David O. Selznick’s first choice credits, because he had been a member of the laid the foundation of his career as the for the part of Rhett Butler in Gone With the Communist Party, Gary Cooper threatened “American hero” and sex symbol for three Wind, a part Cooper turned down because he to walk off the film if Foreman's name wasn´t or four decades. His first talkieThe Virginian didn't think it was right for him. And Cooper put back. When Cooper began to portray consolidated this image. Julia and Clara said of himself “later when I saw Clark Gable real people like Sergeant York or Lou Gehrig Kuperberg had the good luck to persuade play the role to perfection, I knew I was right.” in The Pride of the Yankees he spent a lot of Cooper's daughter, Maria Cooper Janis, to Film historians Marc Wanamaker and Joseph time researching their lives and, in the case of talk about the acting career of her father who McBride comment on the carefully chosen Gehrig, also made himself familiar with baseball. did his own research on “who that man was film clips and paint a picture of the actor and Gehrig's famous farewell speech at Yankee he was going to portray”. You believed the man who got his first Oscar withSergeant Stadium on July 4th 1939, before 62,000 fans, ending with “today I consider myself the luckiest Gary with his wife Rocky and daughter man on the face of the earth” Maria at Snow Valley Idaho, 1949 , was the highlight of Gary Cooper's acting career. His friendship with Frank Capra resulted in Mister Deeds Goes to Town and Meet John Doe in which Cooper added a new type of hero to his repertoire, the champion of the common man. Walking the countryside, fishing and hunting with Hemingway who drew on Cooper's image in creating Robert Jordan in his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls gave the actor another of those typical Cooper roles of playing a “rugged individualist”. Of his later films,Love in the Afternoon brings a touch of nostalgia with the aging Gary Cooper falling in love with young Audrey Hepburn. The filmmakers end on a moving scene when Cooper's friend James Stewart receives an honorary Oscar on behalf of the dying Gary Cooper and makes an emotional speech that sums up the personality of the actor.

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 4 tom zubrycki

ABLAZE Photo © National Film & Sound Archive Imagine Australia today with no Indigenous cultures, languages and communities! This would be our present reality if the Australian government's racial policies of the 1950s and 60s were enforced unopposed. It took one man and a band of courageous activists to

stand up to them. Tiriki Onus Bill Onus at an Aboriginal Rights March

Tiriki Onus sets out to uncover the indigenous filmmaker and television host were to stop Bill's rising international influence and mystery surrounding a 70 year old silent all used in the service of winning racial equality fame. Filmmakers Alec Morgan and Tiriki Onus movie believed to be made by his grandfather and justice. It is little known that Bill generated tell a compelling story of passionate belief and William “Bill” Onus. Bill Onus, a Yorta Yorta/ international support for the Aboriginal rights cultural resilience through never before seen Wiradjuri man from Victoria is a truly heroic movement. Music stars like Harry Belafonte archive footage, reimagined events, animation cultural and political figure who revived his visited him and Paul Robeson earned an ASIO and eyewitness accounts. people's culture in the 1940s and ignited a file after he spoke out for equality in Australia. citizen's rights movement that would, against As Tiriki Onus journeys across the continent directed by Alec Morgan considerable odds, change the course of and pieces together clues to the film's origins, history. His enormous talents as entertainer, he unearths dark intrigues that shape the story produced by Tom Zubrycki entrepreneur, theatre impresario, the first into a real-life thriller about a murky campaign running time 90' Shot in HD

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 Corte Battera tico film5

Corte Battera - directed by Erica Rossi The Caring City produced by Tico Film running time 86' Shot in HD

Plinio Roberto Maurizio

Access to health care is not the same for themselves and bring their attention to the lives thanks to a new public health project in everyone: the conditions of life affect the real of the people they care about, without seeing the neighbourhood, for Plinio, Roberto and possibility that a person has to heal and be them only through the lens of a disease.” Maurizio new and unexpected opportunities cured. The idea that the health of people is Corte Battera - The Caring City tells the story are opening up. Following the daily work of also affected by their emotional and relational about a suburb like we have seen many, in Monica, the leader of the project and of the well-being is a concept that is as simple and which loneliness and fragility make life more volunteers working alongside her, we discover intuitive as it is innovative and revolutionary in difficult: Plinio, an elderly hypochaondriac Monicathat 'healthcare’ in this case means creating its implications. Public health implemented in pianist, does not want to leave the house relationships, getting to know people and their Corte Battera is a project that has no equal in anymore; Roberto faces the consequences needs, being together and sharing everyday Italy and most probably in Europe, but despite of a serious stroke; Maurizio pays the problems. this is now risking to be suppressed because it price of a past life of substance abuse, but does not follow the rules of the Italian public health system. Hence the urgency of showing this approach and its practical implications. “Only after I decided to be there with them”, says director Erika Pelli, “have I really been able to understand the extend of what I was observing: the human and structural investment here in place goes well beyond good practice of health here in the area. What has been going on for ten years in Trieste implies a vision of the world, a way of being that unites all those who are an active part of the project. Here we address a central issue of health: the possibility Monica Ponziana of training technicians who are able to question

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 6beacon isle films

Philip Glass

Photo © Marthe Amanda Vannebo A Descent into the Maelstrom

The American writer, poet and critic Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is famous for his short stories, tales and poems of horror and mystery such as 'The Fall of the House of Photo © Marthe Amanda Vannebo A Descent into the Maelstrom from Usher', 'The Tell-Tale 1841 tells the tale of two fishermen caught in torrents raging between the mountainous Heart' and 'The Raven', islands of Lofoten, inside the Arctic Circle of published in 1845 and northern Norway. A treacherous whirlpool drags their boat down and only one of considered among the them survives. Based on this story Philip Glass composed a choral work for the best-known poems in Australian Dance Theatre in 1986. With the blessings of the composer, Beacon Isle American literature. Films has produced an arrangement for the Artic Philharmonic Orchestra, the world's He captured the imagination and interest of youngest and northernmost professional readers around the world and led to literary orchestral institution, which gives about 150 innovations, earning him the nickname of performances each year covering the entire 'Father of the Detective Story'. Some aspects Northern Norway and the High North. The of his life, like his literature, are shrouded recording took place in the surroundings that in mystery, and the lines between fact and inspired Poe's story, the spectacular landscape fiction have been blurred substantially since his of Lofoten. Tim Weiss conducted the Arctic death. Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir with Berit Norbakken Solset assuming the soprano solo part. Edgar Allen Poe

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 beacon isle films7

Photo © Yngve Olsen Sæbbe

directed by Jan Vardøen produced by Beacon Isle Films Shot in 4K

A Descent into the Maelstrom - the documentary uses the music as recorded by the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in an examination of the social and political turmoil we are experiencing at the present time. We are staring into the abyss and the abyss has started to stare back at us. Douglas and Mary Filmmaker Jan Vardøen is marrying images of the hard life in the Lofoten with great Photo © Marthe Amanda Vannebo sensitivity to the music of Philip Glass. Running Time 70'

A Descent into the Maelstrom - the concert presents the actual recording of the music by Philip Glass with state of the art equipment undercut with spectacular images of the surrounding landscape. Running Time 63'

Approaching the Maelstrom is a documentary about the whole process of putting A Descent into the Maelstrom together, featuring one of the rare interviews with the composer Philip Glass. Running Time 50'

Photo © Marthe Amanda Vannebo

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 8 Centro Estudios Europa Hispánica Self Portrait Saturn Devouring his Son

Rubens The Spectacle of Life detail from Nymphs and Satyrs detail from

Nico van Hout from the Royal Museum of in the more than one thousand paintings Art in Antwerp concludes: “Basically Rubens attributed to him. was a very learned artist, a true “pictor Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was doctus”. Today you can't read his images the most admired painter of his time, an anymore as one would have done in the 17th eminent humanist, courtier and diplomat. His century. So that is the main reason why people overwhelming talent and refined personality don't like Rubens as much as they did in the earned him fame, fortune and happiness. 18th and 19th century. As we shall find out in Very few painter of the 17th century were as Miguel Angel Trujillo's documentary Rubens influential as he was among his peers, or had corresponded with the most important a similar degree of success. This holds neither scientists of his day, served as Court Painter true for Velázquez, Rembrandt or Vermeer. at Mantua, worked for Maria de Medici in In spite of this, Rubens can seem distant to Paris, was called to Spain in order to serve as us today. Miguel Angel Trujillo's documentary a diplomat and spent years in Italy to study invites you to travel his world and to enter the first Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto in Venice exalted version of life that Rubens created in and then Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo his paintings. and Caravaggio, in Rome but above all he Filmed on location in Antwerp, Madrid,

was influenced by Titian. At some time he Paris, Rome and Washington, contributors The Entombment even went on shuttle diplomacy for the include Nico van Hout, Royal Museum of Spanish Habsburg rulers between the Court Art in Antwerp; Yvonne Blake, dress designer directed by Miguel Angel Trujillo of Spain and the Court of England in an in London; Alejandro Vergara, Conservator attempt to broker peace between the Spanish at the Prado in Madrid; Arthur Wheelock, produced by Intervenciones Novo Film Netherlands and the United Provinces. Many Conservator at the National Museum; AIE, Angular Producciones and the of the works commissioned from him had a Washington, Fiona Healy; Centre for Flemish Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica in programme and Rubens was not only familiar Art in the 16th and 17th century, Juan Bor; collaboration with The Prado with classical and Christian history but also Sculptor and Javier Gomá of the Fundación running time 52' Shot in HD painted mythological and allegorical subjects Juan March.

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 Centro Estudios Europa Hispánica 9

directed by Miguel Angel Trujillo produced by Angular Producciones in collaboration with Fundación El running time Greco 52' Shot in HD Allegory

The Tears of St Peter El Greco Painter of the Invisible

For many people the name of El Greco His journey in search of El Greco takes conjures up visions of brightly coloured Miguel Angel Trujillo to London, Madrid, paintings dominated by strangely proportioned Toledo, Athens, Venice, Rome and of course figures with elongated bodies. Why did Crete. Contributors include Xavier Bray, Chief he paint in such a peculiar way? And who Conservator of the Dulwich Picture Gallery would have wanted to purchase such bizarre in London, Fernando Marias, Professor of compositions? History in Madrid, Yanni Petsopoulos, Arts This documentary shows El Greco in his Consultant in London, Nicos Hadjinicolaou, historical context in order to understand Professor emeritus on Crete and Leticia Ruiz him as the creator of a new artistic language. of the Prado in Madrid. Building on his experience as painter of icons, his major achievement was to translate the Mater Dolorosa View of Toledo mysteries of religion into images that spoke to a sixteenth and seventeenth century public, conveying mystical visions in a manner that was acknowledged to be innovative even then. Filmmaker Miguel Angel Trujillo explains how El Greco achieved such a personal style and identifies the keys to his art, which would have a huge influence on modern painting from 1860 onwards. This story unfolds as a fascinating journey through space and time: from his native Crete, where he made small devotional icons to his settling permanently in Toledo, where he went on to create gigantic altarpieces for churches and convents, also including his most important visits to Venice and Rome, where he was permanently in contact with the Renaissance masters. His highly personal synthesis of eastern and western painting techniques gave rise to one of the most original styles in the history of European art.

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 10 Centro Estudios Europa Hispánica

Patinir

The Invention of Landscape Landscape with St Jerome not know who his teachers were but one can detect stylistic similarities with a Jan van Eyck or Robert Campin and some of his landscapes recall Hieronymus Bosch. He must have been rather well known because international patrons ordered paintings from him including Philippe II of Spain who commissioned five, all of which will be seen in the film. Albrecht Dürer met him on a visit to Joachim Patinir by Aegidius Sadeler II Joachim Patinir by Antwerp mentioning his name as landscape painter. He also gave him a sketch with several Christopherus figures that show up in Patinir's paintings. We know for certain that Joachim Patinir The Baptism of Christ worked in Antwerp from 1515 until his death in 1524. He arguably was the first European Contributors include Maria Dolores artist to specialize in painting landscapes. Gayo, María Jésus Iglesias and Alejandro His amazing pictures show his curiosity for Vergara, The Prado; Selina Blasco, Universidad the natural world, a characteristic of the Complutense, Madrid; Eva Lootz, Artist; Renaissance, and at the same time evoke Teresa Mezquita, National Library of Spain; the idea of a transcendental universe. In this Joaquin Risueño, Painter; Paul Huvenne, Royal documentary filmmaker Miguel Angel Trujillo Museum for the Arts Antwerp; Peter Klein, We know very little about Joachim Patinir deals with the enigma of the painter Joachim Hamburg University and Filip Vermeylen, who had so much influence on following Patinir of whom scant biographical details have Erasmus University, Rotterdam. generations of painters. His trade mark was survived. At the dawn of the 16th century, the high skylines and great spatial depth, While painter revolutionized the art market and the directed by Miguel Angel Trujillo putting less importance on figures in the concept of painting itself as we shall see in this foreground which were often executed by film. Miguel Angel Trujillo's journey in quest of produced by Angular Producciones other painters or copied from existing third Patinir takes him to Antwerp, Berlin, Dinant, in collaboration with The Prado & party sketches he painted his panoramic Geneva, Hamburg, Madrid, Rotterdam and CEEH running time 51' Shot in HD landscapes down to minute details. We do Washington.

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 lópez-li films 11

Granados Love and Death

There are not many music documentaries finished the piece during a stay in Switzerland at the turn of the 19th century as backdrop. made in Spain. Poorhouse already worked with but the outbreak of WW1 thwarted the Paris Highlights of the documentary include filmmaker Arantxa Aguirre on herA Rose for première. Granados managed to persuade performances by Evgeny Kissin, Rosa Torres- Antonio Soler. Now she has come up with Love the administration of the opera house to let Prado, Carlos Alvarez, Arcángel, Rocio Márquez and Death, a portrait of composer and pianist the world première go to the MET in New and Nancy Fabiola Herrera. Danza Oriental Enrique Granados. This is a great love story York, where the opera was staged with great by Maurice Béjart is performed by members between the penniless artist and Amparo, the success on January 26th, 1916. Because of of the Béjart Ballet Lausanne while Patricia daughter of a well to do Catalan business man. an invitation to perform at the White House Guerrero stunningly interprets the Danza de But first things first. Granados studied piano Granados and his wife cancelled their boat trip los ojos verdes in her own choreography. in Barcelona and thereafter went to Paris directly to Spain and went home via England like so many other young Spanish artists. In instead. They died while crossing the Channel directed by Arantxa Aguirre Paris he shared a room with pianist Ricardo when German U-Boot 29 torpedoed the ferry produced by López-Li Films & RTVE Viñes and made friends with Pablo Casals. In with the French coast already in sight. The 1992 he had his first success as a composer captain urged the passengers to stay on board running time 58' & 79' Shot in HD with Danzas espanolas and as a pianist with as he was confident to reach the harbour, but Grieg's piano concerto. His breakthrough came Granados and his wife jumped into the sea, with the zarzuela Maria del Carmen 1898 in besotten with fate, and drowned. Madrid. His greatest and most lasting success Arantxa Aguirre tells her story with archive was the piano suite Goyescas. On playing this footage and picture material from Granados' piece in Paris the Paris Opera suggested he time, using also paintings and postcards in a use the material to create an Opera. Granados most original way with booming Barcelona

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 12lópez-li films Dancing Beethoven

With the Beethoven Year in sight it is probably a very good idea to remember Arantxa Aguirre's documentary 'Dancing Beethoven' from 2017 and make it available to television audiences after a successful has any meaning today in a world of wars and theatrical career. hatred. Zubin Mehta, conducting the Israel Philharmonic for the event, situates the 9th Over nine month the filmmaker has followed symphony the preparations of the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in the and the Tokyo Ballet to have Béjart's composer's Beethoven 9 masterpiece revived by Piotr output Nardelli, an ex-Béjart dancer and associate, and is seen fifty years after its creation in Brussels to rehearsing celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Tokyo his orchestra. Ballet. Both companies mustered some 250 Malya Roman dancers and musicians to participate in the provides a event on November 8th, 2014 at the NHK surprising Hall in Tokyo which serves as the crowning ending to the end to Aguirre's film. She starts out during the documentary, preceding winter observing the Béjart Ballet which does preparing at the Maurice Béjart Foundation attract a in Switzerland, moves to Tokyo in spring of Maurice Béjart younger the following year to show how the Tokyo audience to one of the greatest pieces of Ballet is getting ready for the great day. After classical music through the medium of dance. summer filming at Lausanne she then returns to Tokyo for the première. On her way she has actress Malya Roman, daughter of the Béjart directed by Arantxa Aguirre Ballet's artistic director Gil Roman talk to produced by López-Li Films dancers, ballet masters and critics to find out running time whether Beethoven's and Schiller's message 79' Shot in HD

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 monarda arts 13

Photo © Reinhard Winkler Anton Bruckner A GiANT iN THE MAKiNG

The reception to Bruckner's music has been late and slow. The recording of a complete Bruckner Cycle by Telmondis with Photo © Christian Herzenberger Valery Gergiev and the Munich Philharmonic at St. Florian in Upper Austria provides us with occupy, tells us about his triumph in Notre a unique chance of obtaining clips from all of Dame in Paris and the Albert Hall and Cristal his symphonies from one source in order to Palace in London. Composing symphonies make a comprehensive documentary about however made him lots of enemies because the composer. Deryck Cooke quite rightly Anton Bruckner the traditionalists led by Brahms had the upper pointed out that “Bruckner's symphonic music hand against the Neudeutsche Schule which is more like walking round a cathedral and taking to improvise on the organ and point out how included Wagner and Liszt and Bruckner in each aspect of it than like setting out on a the organ influenced orchestration in his later was lumped in with the latter. While the journey to some hoped-for goal”. Hence the symphonies. Other contributors tell us about fourth symphony was quite successful when difficulty of familiarizing oneself with much Bruckner's pining for young girls to whom he performed at the Musikverein, the Vienna of his work. St. Florian has been the first proposed in old fashioned letters which have Philharmonic declared other works to be stepping stone in what subsequently became been available to be filmed. The successors of unplayable and rubbish. It was only very late a career as a composer. On the death of his the choral society Frohsinn, which Bruckner led in his life that Bruckner experienced a real father Bruckner was taken to St. Florian by to fame while in Linz, will perform secular and breakthrough with a performance of his his mother in the hope that he would be sacred a cappella works and the current music 7th symphony in Munich. We will hear how accepted as choir boy. One mouth less to feed. director will assess Bruckner's vocal writing. Bruckner was feted and how disappointed We therefore begin with a visit to St. Florian On another level Valery Gergiev will discuss he was when the next symphony was initially and follow the Florianer Sängerknaben during Bruckner's most innovative compositions turned down by his most ardent supporter. recreation as well as learning and rehearsing followed by the appropriate clips. Bruckner's We will also devote time to the creation of music while their music director talks about little known, but quite close relationship with Bruckner's ninth and last symphony which was the institution in Bruckner's time as well as Richard Wagner merits a fresh look. The dedicated to God and remained unfinished. As today, together with his early upbringing. No director of the Richard Wagner Museum at he wanted to be buried under the organ of St. doubt that the splendour of the place made Bayreuth shows us the score of the third Florian in the crypt of the Basilica we return a lasting impression on the boy who would symphony, which Bruckner dedicated to to St. Florian and end with his Ave Maria later become Organist at St. Florian. The Wagner and reads out the amusing double performed by the Linzer Singakademie and architecture and space of the monastery is autograph which reassures the composer that Hard-Chor. certainly an element reflected in his symphonic Wagner was indeed the dedicatee, as some work. We hear about his choice to become a confusion had occurred in Bruckner´s mind directed by Reiner E. Moritz teacher, the misery of his first employment, the after a beer fueled evening at Wahnfried. produced by Monarda Arts final decision to turn to music and his success Arriving in Vienna to become successor to as organist. Both the organists of St. Florian, his teacher Simon Sechter Bruckner's fame as running time for television 58' where he began, and the Old Cathedral in Linz, an improviser earned him trips to France and there will be a 90' version for home where he went next, will talk about these first England. The current organist of the Vienna video & theatrical release Shot in 4K steps in a career as musician, demonstrate how Court Chapel, a position Bruckner would later

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 14 dutch national opera Le Nozze di Figaro

photos © Monica Rittershaus Lorenzo da Ponte adapted Beaumarchais' revolutionary play shortly after it was premièred in Paris and persuaded Mozart to set it to music. Legend has it that Emperor Joseph II complained to da Ponte at one of his levees that there was no new opera at his Court Theatre. Da Ponte suggested he could easily mount Le Nozze di Figaro to Le Nozze de Figaro which the Emperor Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and replied: “I Chorus of the Dutch National Opera have just Ivor Bolton Conducted by censored cast the play, how dare you?” To which da Ponte Stéphane Degout Il Conte di Almaviva replied: “The opera is in Italian which nobody Eleonora Buratto La Contessa di Almaviva understands here anyway!” In this Dutch Christiane Karg Susanna National Opera production by David Bösch Alex Esposito Figaro and Ivor Bolton of Figaro's marriage the hectic, Marianne Crebassa Cherubino bubbly story of Figaro's eventful wedding party Katharine Goeldner Marcellina is visually interpreted in a revolving stage set. Krystian Adam Bartolo David Bösch is a born story teller. He likes Jerven de Vaal Don Curzio to focus on the classics and is known for his Louise Kemény Barbarina poetic approach. To Ivor Bolton we owe many wonderful DNO productions not least his directed by Misjel Vermeiren utterly entertaining Ercole Amante by Cavalli. produced by Dutch National Opera running time 178' Shot in HD

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 dutch national opera 15 Ring Cycle

Almeida Theatre before he moved to the Netherlands and became the longest serving Siegfried © Ruth Walz artistic director at any opera house in the world. He is now the new director of the deal he made with the giants over Freia and Producing Richard Aix-en-Provence Festival and the Park Avenue Valhalla. She received a standing ovation for Armory Show. We owe him a string of very what was undoubtedly a challenging and spirited Wagner's Ring cycle successful opera productions including Tan performance… Dun's Marco Polo and Gluck's two Iphigénies. By the final performance of Götterdämmerung is a tremendous Hartmut Haenchen, the 1992 Olivier Award over 160,000 people have attended this Ring undertaking for any recipient for his Mitridate at the ROH was cycle since Rheingold first came to the stage in Music Director at the time of the first 1997. opera company. Since it recording and brought in 2014 all his Wagner From Operacritic, February 2014 experience including a new edition of the Ring first opened to critical again to this joint artistic venture. Das Rheingold Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra acclaim during the In fact the quality of the cast - the same Conducted by Hartmut Haenchen 1997-98 season, Pierre throughout the cycle - glittered as much as the cast gold itself. Thomas J. Mayer possessed a strong Götter: Audi and Hartmut rich-textured voice as Wotan and proved a good Wotan Stéphane Degout choice for this dominating and demanding role Donner Vladimir Baykov Haenchen's Ring has firing angst one minute and showing compassion Froh Marcel Reijans the next, complementing well Catherine Foster’s Loge Stefan Margita become a kind of wonderful (and dutiful) portrayal of Brünnhilde. Niebelungen: signature production A singer of great Wagnerian strength, Foster Alberich Werner Van Mechelen delivered the goods in no uncertain manner. Her Mime Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhack for Het Nederlandse voice - natural and unrestrained - radiates in Riesen: the upper register where it counts for so much Fasolt Stephen Milling Opera, now the Dutch in Brünnhilde’s big moments while her lower Fafner Jan-Hendrik Rootering register was equally effective in the more emotive Göttinnen: National Opera. and intimate scenes. Fricka Doris Soffel Alberich (Werner Van Mechelen) and Mime Freia Anna Gabler This Ring blends the lyrical, mythical and (Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke) worked well Erda Marina Prudenskaja philosophical qualities of Wagner's work into together and at times they bordered upon Rheintöchter: a profound unity. Breathtaking sets by George slapstick as befitting, say, the Ugly Sisters in Woglinde Machteld Baumans Tsypin, superb costumes by Oscar winner Eiko pantomime pulling each other apart to get their Wellgunde Barbara Senator Ishioka and an orchestra in the pit and ring- beastly and selfish way. Flosshilde Bettina Ranch shaped on stage impress eye and ear. After this Marina Prudenskaja blossomed in the role recording was successfully launched on DVD of Erda and Stephen Gould was on top form by Opus Arte the Dutch National Opera as Siegfried delivering a brilliant and athletic directed for TV by Misjel Vermeiren made a second recording in 2014 which is performance. Doris Soffel as Fricka brought the produced by Dutch National Opera now distributed by Telmondis and Poorhouse. house down with her frosty and argumentative Pierre Audi was the founder of the London encounter with Wotan in Rheingold over the running time 154' Shot in HD

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 16 dutch national opera Siegfried Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Knabenchor der Chorakademie Dortmund Conducted by Hartmut Haenchen cast Siegfried Stig Andersen Mime Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke Der Wanderer Thomas Johannes Mayer Alberich Werner Van Mechelen Fafner Jan-Hendrik Rootering Erda Marina Prudenskaja Brünnhilde Catherine Foster Waldvogel Juls Serger Rheintöchter: Woglinde Machteld Baumans Wellgunde Barbara Senator Flosshilde Bettina Ranch directed for TV by Misjel Vermeiren produced by Dutch National Opera running time 246' Shot in HD

Götterdämmerung Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus of the Dutch National Opera Conducted by Hartmut Haenchen cast Die Walküre © Marco Borggreve Siegfried Stig Andersen Mr. Audi used his very contemporary, pared-down Gunter Alejandro Marco-Buhrmester approach to make a very large and impressive Die Götterdämmerung © Marco Borggreve Alberich Werner Van Mechelen production. “It’s not exactly the Poor Theater,” Hagen Kurt Rydl Mr. Bertisch said. “He uses the characters as his Brünnhilde Catherine Foster main element in a very empty space, but it’s a Gutrune Astrid Weber very expensive, enormous show.” Waltraute Michaela Schuster Mr. Tsypin’s set design includes a fire on stage, Erste Norn Nicola Piccolomini and the whole set rotates counterclockwise Zweite Norn Barbara Senator from one opera in the cycle to the next. There Dritte Norn Astrid Weber is little stage furniture, but the singers perform on ramps and platforms that surround the directed for TV by Misjel Vermeiren 100-piece orchestra. Futuristic costumes, inspired produced by Dutch National Opera by animals and mythical creatures and designed running time 267' Shot in HD by the Academy Award winner Eiko Ishioka, are emphasized with high-contrast lighting. All told, the “Ring” is about a 15-hour opera Die Götterdämmerung © Marco Borggreve extravaganza, excluding intermissions. From NY Times, September 2013 ˇ Die Walküre © Marco Borggreve Die Walküre Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Knabenchor der Chorakademie Dortmund Conducted by Hartmut Haenchen cast Siegmund Christopher Ventris Hunding Kurt Rydl Wotan Thomas Johannes Mayer Sieglinde Catherine Naglestad Brünnhilde Catherine Foster Fricka Doris Soffel

directed for TV by Misjel Vermeiren produced by Dutch National Opera running time 233' Shot in HD

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019 backstage 17

2020 - BEETHOVEN YEAR Ludwig van Beethoven made his early reputation as a piano virtuoso and great improviser. In order to celebrate the 250th anniversary of his birth Poorhouse International is proud to present the complete cycle of his piano sonatas played by Daniel Barenboim in 1993 and 1984. Barenboim was at the height of his interpretative powers and counted among the top pianists world-wide. Metropolitan took a chance in engaging Jean- Pierre Ponnelle, then one of the most sought after stage directors, to record the 32 sonatas on 35mm, now converted to HD. Any one as Uirapurú and Amazonas. He befriended of them would be a fitting contribution to Darius Milhaud and made friends with Arthur celebrate Beethoven 2020. Rubinstein who often used the piano suite A Prole do Bebé as an encore. This profile will take us on a journey through the vast country and the music inspired by it. Heitor Villa Lobos died 60 years ago and deserves to be better known than by “Bachianas brasileiras” No. 5 Shot in HD with a Running Time of 58 Minutes. Poorhouse also distributes the complete cycles of his string quartets and CLOUD GATE DANCE music for piano and cello. THEATRE Founder of The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre Lin Hwai-min is retiring and handing over his company to Cheng Tsung-lung, currently Artistic Director of Cloud Gate 2. Lin Hwai- min has some 90 choreographies to his credit created in the 45 years he has been building a world-wide reputation for himself and his company. Formosa is supposed to be his last piece. The title is already revealing, it is the Children's carnival in Rio old name for Taiwan. 2018 saw a triumphant Ludwig van Beethoven farewell tour with the earlier Rice and Formosa. MiPDOC & MIPTV 2019 In February 2019 Cloud Gate received During MIPDOC and MIP TV Dr. Reiner Moritz the Stef Stefanou Award for Outstanding will be at the Creative Europe Stand P4.B1 READY FOR DELiVERY Company at the National Dance Awards Tel. +33 (0)4 9299 8596 or at the apartment: Granados, Love and Death, TV version 59’ presented by the Critics' Circle of the United Armenonville - Entry 5, 6th floor Gary Cooper - The Irresistible 52’ Kindom. This prize is a fitting tribute to a man 9 Rond Point Duboys d'Angers Corte Battera - The Caring City 86’ and a company which have fused Chinese 06400 Cannes, Tel : +33 (0)4 83 44 08 91 American Tap, TV version 58’ Opera, Tai-chi and modern dance in order Descent into the Maelstrom 68’ to create something new, the floating on the At the MIPDOC Screening Library we will (concert version 62’) ground. Dear Hwai-min, we shall miss you. present: Approaching the Maelstrom 52’ “Cloud Gate affirmed the glory of beauty itself”. Gary Cooper - The Irresistible New York Times Descent into the Maelstrom Granados, Love and Death FROM THE AMAZONAS TO BACH After a lot of toing and froing producer Carlos De Andrade has finally got the clips needed from the Villa Lobos Museum to finish the first comprehensive documentary on this brilliant Brazilian composer and educationalist who said of himself: “I don't use folklore, I am the folklore.” 58 Broadwick Street Traveling through his country he familiarised London W1F 7AL himself with lots of different Brazilian sounds telephone: +44 (0)20 7436 8663 which, together with untouched landscape, are email [email protected] reflected in some of his compositions such www.poorhouseintl.co.uk Gary Cooper in The Texan

Newsletter No48 April - September 2019