New Year's Eve, Dorset, England, 1946. Harry Fox-Talbot and his brothers have returned from World War II determined to save their once grand home from ruin. But the arrival of beautiful Jewish wartime singer Edie Rose tangles the threads of love and duty, and leads to a devastating betrayal. Fifty years later, now a celebrated composer, Fox reels from the death of his adored wife, Edie. Until his connection with his four-year old grandson - a music...

She was ahead of her time, a genius. During an era when Jazz was the nation's popular music, Mary Lou Williams was one of its greatest innovators. As both a pianist and composer, she was a font of daring and creativity who helped shape the sound of 20th century America. And like the dynamic, turbulent nation in which she lived, Williams seemed to redefine herself with every passing decade. From child prodigy to "Boogie-Woogie Queen" to groundbreaking...

A celebration of an artist’s life in the purest sense, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS is the swan song of one of the world’s greatest musicians. As a parting gift, just months before his death in 2023, Sakamoto mustered all of his energy to leave us with one final performance: a concert film featuring just him and a piano, directed by his son, Neo Sora. Curated and sequenced by Sakamoto himself, the twenty of his pieces played in the film wordlessly...

Meredith Monk is a composer, singer, filmmaker, and director/choreographer. This tape includes interviews and excerpts from performance. A pioneer in what is now called "extended vocal technique" and "interdisciplinary performance," Ms. Monk has created more than 80 works of music, theater, dance, and film. A recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, she has been acclaimed by audiences and critics as a major force in the performing arts. "When...

"The sensual nature of sound" portrays these New York based composer/performers in terms of their musical lives. Although all four women are pioneers in American music, each composer pursues a distinct direction of her own. Since the early 1980s, Laurie Anderson has used music and performance as the foundation for her multi-media stage shows which have since become her trademark. Cuban born Tania Leon composes orchestral music that is an intricate...

American composers have long struggled against the momentum of the Western European classical tradition and the prestige it has held in America's cultural life. "I did not want to have any stricture at all, I wanted to be completely free." So spoke Harry Partch, describing not only his own path, but also that of two other influential American composers: Lou Harrison and Terry Riley. They were attracted to musical ideas and sounds outside of the surrounding...

An original musical portrait of American composer Cole Porter, filled with his unforgettable songs. Porter looks back on his life as if it were one of his spectacular stage shows, with the people and events of his life becoming the actors and actions onstage. Through elaborate production numbers and popular hits, Porter's elegant, excessive past comes to light -- including his deeply complicated relationship with his wife, Linda Lee Porter, who was...

Explores the unlikely bond between the famous Austrian composer and his pet starling, providing an unexpected window into human-animal friendships, music, and the nature of creative inspiration. "On May 27th, 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart met a flirtatious little starling in a Viennese shop who sang an improvised version of the theme from his Piano Concerto no. 17 in G major. Sensing a kindred spirit in the plucky young bird, Mozart bought him and...

"For anyone who loved High Fidelity and wants a woman's perspective on the early aughts music scene, Deep Cuts is both a love story between two people whose timing is always off, and a love letter to the thing that moves all of us--music"--

When Mozart arrives at the court of Emperor Joseph II, court composer Antonio Salieri is horrified to discover that the godlike musical gifts he desires himself have been bestowed on a bawdy joker. Mad with envy, he plots to destroy Mozart by any means.