Humphrey Burton

The Opera House

In this documentary, award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke explores the creation of the Metropolitan Opera’s storied home of the last five decades. Drawing on rarely seen archival footage, stills, and recent interviews, The Opera House looks at an important period of the Met’s history and delves into some of the untold stories of the artists, architects, and politicians who shaped the cultural life of New York City in the ’50s and ’60s. Among the notable figures in the film are famed soprano Leontyne Price, who opened the new Met in 1966 in Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra; Rudolf Bing, the Met’s imperious General Manager who engineered the move from the old house to the new one; Robert Moses, the unstoppable city planner who bulldozed an entire neighborhood to make room for Lincoln Center; and Wallace Harrison, whose quest for architectural glory was never fully realized.

Karajan's Magic and Myth

Over twenty-five years after his death in July 1989, the controversial Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan remains an enigma. He was the most successful conductor in the history of classical music. Many of his recordings - of Italian opera, of Wagner and Richard Strauss, of Sibelius, Beethoven and Brahms - are treasured by music lovers around the world. Yet, even at the peak of his fame, his performances were variously criticised for being too opulent, too manicured, lacking warmth or spiritual depth. This musical profile explores the many paradoxes in the life and music of this controversial figure, who forged his international reputation in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra shortly after the end of the Second World War and went on to reign supreme in the classical music world during his three decades with the Berlin Philharmonic. The film also examines Karajan's belief in the visual power of music, and his determination to leave behind a substantial legacy of music on film.

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould

A documentary on the mysterious and influential pianist.

Herbert von Karajan: Maestro for the Screen

Documentary on conductor Herbert van Karajan, focusing on his early adoption of audio and video recording technology and his impetus to make use of it to preserve his musical legacy for future generations.

Glenn Gould: Hereafter

A retrospective of the life and work of Glenn Gould, Hereafter synthesizes an incredible wealth of archival material from various sources.

La Stupenda

Dubbed ‘La Stupenda’ thirty years ago by an Italian critic, Dame Joan Sutherland and her husband Richard Bonynge talk at length about her distinguished singing career and their life together in opera. The film combines documentary, archival material and performance to present a unique retrospective of those years. Affectionate contributions from some of their close friends and colleagues, including Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and fellow Australian Sir Sidney Nolan, add to a celebration of Dame Joan’s singular talent.

Marevna and Marika

Documentary on 84-year old Marevna; painter, friend of Picasso and one-time mistress of Diego Rivera; and her daughter by Rivera, Marika; former dancer and actress.

The Story of Pantomime

This 1976 BBC documentary sees Ken Campbell (and his Roadshow) investigate the origins and the development of the traditional British Christmas pantomime.

New York, New York - Saturday in SoHo/Watching My Name Go By

Humphrey Burton introduces two Omnibus USA reports on the arts in New York... that is the arts in the streets, away from the museums and the concert halls. One film is 'Saturday in Soho', an impression of artists, dancers and musicians' work and of the Soho area in general. The second is 'Watching My Name Go By', a showcase a kind of graffiti cult game played by 11 to 17-year-olds. It's illegal and dangerous - and while some New Yorkers think it's a kind of art, others think it's kind of disgusting.

Signs of Vigorous Life: The New German Cinema

BBC documentary about the rise of the New German Cinema and several of its most important figures.

Elton John: Mr. Superfunk

Short documentary originally featured on Aquarius containing interviews, concert footage, and general information about Elton John and his career up to 1971. Featuring Elton John working on an early version of Tiny Dancer before it had been recorded for his then upcoming album.

The Golden Ring

Watching the Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, and a stellar cast record Wagner's immense Götterdämmerung for Decca in the fall of 1964 provides a thousand lessons in the art of working under pressure. For this classic documentary, The Golden Ring, a BBC camera crew eavesdropped as producer John Culshaw guided his engineering team through tricky technical maneuvers far removed from the relative ease of modern digital editing. What utter concentration and focus Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Gottlob Frick, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau bring to their collective and individual singing! Solti, for his part, oozes energy and exactitude as he pleads for greater precision and frets over details in the car en route to the sessions.

Gordon Jacob

A portrait of the English composer Gordon Jacob.