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Classical Music (33)
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AriaPjotr Sapegin 2001 10 minThis animated short by Pjotr Sapegin is inspired by Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly. The puppet Butterfly lives alone on an island, until a white ship brings the handsome sailor Pinkerton. They become passionate lovers. Eventually his ship leaves, and Butterfly waits longingly for her lover to return. She feels an ocean of life growing in her belly. The ocean swells, and a small, unprotected mussel washes up on the shores of her body. He soon grows into a beautiful child. But when Pinkerton finally returns, he tears away Butterfly's child, dashing all her hopes. Butterfly can only find comfort in death... but how is a puppet to die? -
Anton & the PianoDavid Acomba 2008 6 minA short film featuring pianist Anton Kuerti. The virtuoso demonstrates the inner workings of a grand piano, pulling out his tool kit to make minute adjustments before a performance. Made in 2008, it commemorates Kuerti receiving the Governor General’s Performing Artist Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.
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Ben Heppner: Moving Through MusicRandall Lloyd Okita 2016 5 minThis short documentary gives us insight into the singing prowess of renowned tenor Ben Heppner, one of Canada’s pre-eminent musical ambassadors. Revealing his intimate connection to the power of performance, the film plays with scale and layers of sound, revisiting the architectural and sonic spaces that Heppner’s voice has inhabited throughout his remarkable career—from country churches to the major opera houses of the world.
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CanonNorman McLaren & Grant Munro 1964 9 minNorman McLaren and Grant Munro use three different animation techniques to provide visual representations of canons in a film designed to teach viewers about this ancient musical form. The soundtrack combines both recorded classical music and sounds produced by a synthesizer.
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A Charman EventCarl Bessai 2008 5 minEric Charman is the life of the party, and not only because he's usually the person organizing it. As a lifelong patron of the arts, Charman has raised money for the Victoria Symphony, the Pacific Opera Victoria, and, most significantly The Victoria Conservatory of Music. The life of a bon vivant is not nearly as effortless as it seems. Over the past 40 years, Charman has presided over 400 charity auctions. In this short film created for the 2008 Governor General Awards, director Carl Bessai captures the effervescent Eric Charman doing what he does best - throwing a party.
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Eye Witness No. 221950 10 minAlberta's Blood Indians: On their reserve near Cardston, Alberta, the Kainai take action against waste and want, to improve living standards. Music Master: All the world of music reaches blind Paul Doyon, piano virtuoso, through his "seeing fingers." Sky Sentries: Jet planes of the Royal Canadian Air Force's famed 401 Squadron scream through the skies over Montréal in an air defense exercise.
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EnigmaticoDavid Mortin & Patricia Fogliato 1995 51 minInterweaving poetry, painting, photography, music and sculpture, this feature documentary is an innovative look at the lives and work of Canadian men and women artists of Italian origin. Broaching issues of identity and culture, the film explores the relationship between the immigrant experience and the creative process.
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E. Noël Spinelli: Sharing the Magic of MusicBobbi Jo Hart 2019 5 minThe son of a humble Italian immigrant, E. Noël Spinelli has dedicated most of his life to making music accessible to his blue-collar community of Lachine, Quebec. This short film offers a poignant emotional journey into his deep love of opera and Puccini, quietly revealing what music has given to Mr. Spinelli, and why he is so passionately committed to sharing its magical gifts.
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For a SongTahani Rached 2001 1 h 17 minThis documentary opens the door to the magnificent world of choral music, a world inhabited by exceptional beings with the capacity to experience joy from a single musical note. They sing anywhere and everywhere: at the wheel, in the shower, even in the kitchen. But above all, they sing together, men and women of all ages and various backgrounds, transformed by the radiant glory of song and united under the banner of L'Ensemble vocal d'Outremont.
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Festival in Puerto RicoWolf Koenig & Roman Kroitor 1961 27 minThis short documentary features Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester as she sings at the Festival Casals, a musical event founded by the great Spanish cellist and conductor Pablo Casals and sponsored annually by the Puerto Rican government. Part concert film, part tourism film, Festival in Puerto Rico offers viewers candid glimpses of mid-20th century Puerto Rico intercut with performance footage of Forrester and her husband, violinist-conductor Eugene Kash.
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Glenn Gould - On the RecordRoman Kroitor & Wolf Koenig 1959 29 minThis short documentary follows Glenn Gould to New York City. There, we see the renowned Canadian concert pianist kidding the cab driver, bantering with sound engineers at Columbia Records, and then, alone with the piano, fastidiously recording Bach's Italian Concerto.
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Glenn Gould - Off the RecordRoman Kroitor & Wolf Koenig 1959 29 minIn this short documentary, Canadian concert pianist Glenn Gould enjoys a respite at his lakeside cottage. This is an aspect of Gould previously known only to the collie pacing beside him through the woods, the fishermen resting their oars to hear his piano, and fellow musicians like Franz Kraemer, with whom Gould talks of composition.
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HarmonieBonnie Sherr Klein 1977 19 minA gentle blend of music, people and nature; a summer camp where melodies ripple off the waves and rhythms bounce out of the shadows. Every summer since 1953, CAMMAC (Canadian Amateur Musicians/Musiciens Amateurs du Canada) has held a bilingual music camp in Québec's Laurentian Mountains. Here, people of all ages and levels of musical ability come together to learn and make music with a professional staff of Canadian and international musicians.
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The ImpresarioAnita Doron 2010 5 minWalter Homburger helped bring Glenn Gould and a succession of other great musicians to the attention of the world. Using shadow puppets and silhouettes, this short documentary captures the irrepressible spirit of a great impresario, manager and orchestra administrator who has devoted his life to furthering classical music in Canada.
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JablonskiReevan Dolgoy 1971 49 minA film on the life of Canadian concert pianist Marek Jablonski. He is seen at a concert debut in Spain, on a visit to his native Poland, where he began his piano studies at the age of four, in Montréal playing to an audience of school children, and in Edmonton where he lives. This is a memorable portrait of a man who lives for music.
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La SallaRichard Condie 1996 8 minIn this animated short, the classic tale of temptation is revealed in the form of a comic opera. In a room full of wind-up toys, our hero sets a chain of events into motion that ends up disturbing both his own, and the viewer's, sense of reality. La Salla has won many awards and earned an Oscar®-nomination.
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A Little SummermusikBill Davies 1972 8 minA film pastorale set in the early summer near Elora, Ontario, where music students practice out-of-doors. Lush green fields, towering elms and a rippling stream near an old farmhouse provide a rich setting for young musicians playing solo or in groups on flutes, strings, and piano. Music has charm indeed when the mood is of lilac and the sweet pipings of spring.
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A Matter of FormRené Jodoin 1984 3 minSet to the rousing notes of Schubert's Military March, this animation film is an ingenious example of how a single point can be the building-block for a multiplicity of shapes and configurations. Lines and forms grow out of the point, eventually covering the entire screen in splashes of colour. This is geometric wizardry at its colourful best. A film without words.
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Man of MusicRoger Blais 1959 18 minThis short documentary is a profile of Healey Willan, composer, conductor, choirmaster, organist and teacher. We follow Dr. Willan from his seat at his favourite organ in the church where he is choirmaster to his study where he works, and to a visit with his students at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Throughout, the sound of beautiful music accompanies Dr. Willan’s journeys.
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Minor KeysMieko Ouchi 2004 53 minThe soaring notes of a violin lift through the air while confident young hands grasp the bow. Lifting the curtain on the little-understood world of the child musical prodigy, Minor Keys takes us into the lives of two exceptional violinists: 12-year-old Ewald Cheung, who dreams of playing the world's famous concert halls, and 18-year-old Jessica Linnebach, who is launching her professional career.
Filmed over an 18-month period, this engaging documentary charts the pressure-filled road these young musicians travel. From home and school to music lessons and competitions, they speak candidly about their dreams and fears.
James Keene, their inspiring teacher and a former child prodigy, looks back on his own childhood experiences to cast light on the stress of a glamorous but sometimes unkind business. The documentary also features interviews with renowned developmental psychologist Dr David Henry Feldman.
Mixing candid interviews, lively footage and stirring musical performances, Minor Keys offers a thought-provoking look at the ordinary children behind the extraordinary talents. -
Mr. Mergler's GiftBeverly Shaffer 2004 30 minIn this short film from Oscar® winner Beverly Shaffer, 9-year-old prodigy Xin Ben takes lessons from Daniel Mergler, a piano teacher at the end of his career. In this remarkable story about a student and her mentor, Xin Ben and Mergler meet 26 times over the course of one year. During this time, Xin Ben illuminates Mergler's final months as an instructor with her youthful talent, and he, in return, lovingly guides her towards a life in music.
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Our Last Days ... In MoscowMartin Duckworth 1987 55 minPianists Kuo-Yen of Taiwan and Pierre Jasmin of Québec met and fell in love while studying music in Vienna. The film is a "letter" from Pierre to Kuo-Yen, who has made the difficult decision to return to her native land. Jasmin is sending her the images, words, and music of their last days as a couple ... in Moscow. They had come there for Kuo-Yen to compete in the 8th Tchaikovsky Piano Competition; how she fared determined her future. While pivoting on the drama of an international music competition and the sorrow inherent in parting, the film is also full of laughter, light, and love.
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The PerformerDonald Ginsberg 1959 58 minThis 1959 feature documentary is a foray into Canada’s art milieu. What is it like to be a Canadian artist? Answering this central question are Teresa Stratas, winner of Metropolitan Opera auditions; acclaimed lyric tenor Léopold Simoneau and his talented wife, soprano Pierrette Alarie; the National Ballet Company of Canada’s artistic director, Celia Franca and leading male dancer, David Adams; as well as jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, whom we visit at 3 o'clock in the morning at Boston's Storyville Club. The film also includes interviews with radio and television actor John Drainie, Christopher Plummer and Jean Gascon, director of Montreal's Théâtre du Nouveau Monde.
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The Radical Expeditions of Walter BoudreauMatthew Rankin 2015 4 minThis micro-epic short film is an inspired tribute to visionary avant-garde composer Walter Boudreau: his life, work, mischief, and boundless artistic curiosity. Both a documentary biopic and a wildly abstract hallucination, the film conceives of Walter Boudreau as a radical explorer, struggling against the inert mass of the cosmos, charting bold new paths of artistic freedom and audaciously expanding the frontiers of our known musical universe.
Produced by the NFB in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2015 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. -
RehearsalRoger Blais 1953 12 minMuch of the work of an orchestra and its conductor is done in shirt sleeves, in an empty hall. In this film we go behind the scenes with conductor Paul Scherman as he prepares a Montréal orchestra for a performance of a new composition by Canadian composer Harry Somers. Mr. Somers himself is on hand to hear this rehearsal of his Suite for Harp and Chamber Orchestra.
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SyrinxRyan Larkin 1965 2 minBorrowing from classical mythology, this very short film illustrates the story of Syrinx, the nymph who attempts to escape the goat-god Pan’s amorous advances by fleeing to a nearby river for help, only to be transformed into hollow reeds. Syrinx is the first film by Ryan Larkin, an Oscar®-nominated director who began his animation career in Norman McLaren’s student group. The technique employed is charcoal sketches on paper; the accompanying music is Claude Debussy’s “Syrinx” for solo flute.
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StravinskyRoman Kroitor & Wolf Koenig 1966 49 minThis documentary is an informal portrait of the great modern composer Igor Stravinsky. Proudly American, though still very much an Old World figure with a long and alert memory for people and events in music, literature and art, Stravinsky is depicted here conducting the CBC Symphony Orchestra in a recording of his Symphony of Psalms.
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Starlight & Other Sounds: The music of Alexina LouieJosephine Anderson 2021 5 minThis short sensory film explores the internal process of Alexina Louie, whose unique sound has established her as one of Canada’s most performed and highly regarded composers.
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Spook SportNorman McLaren 1940 7 minAn expressionistic interpretation of 'Danse macabre' by Camille Saint-Saëns. Conventional cel animation and pen drawings were done by Norman McLaren directly on 35 mm film stock.
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Together in HarmonyMarie-France Guerrette Dempsey 2009 27 minThis short documentary chronicles the participation of Edmonton’s Chorale Saint-Jean in the festivities organized for Quebec City’s 400th anniversary. The film is interspersed with interviews with conductor Laurier Fagnan, lyricist-composer France Levasseur-Ouimet and other people involved with this talented choir. Poignant and charming, it shows that French outside Quebec doesn’t necessarily have a bleak future. Indeed, not only is Franco-Albertan culture surviving, but it is also enriching our country’s heritage. In French with English subtitles.
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That Higher LevelJohn Bolton 2018 1 h 14 minThat Higher Levelfollows the 100 musicians who make up the National Youth Orchestra of Canada over the course of two months of training and touring across the country. Embedded with the orchestra throughout, filmmaker John Bolton weaves together footage that captures the essence of the training institute and, eventually, the journey and performances on tour.
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Variations on Ah! vous dirai-je, mamanFrancine Desbiens 1985 13 minIn this short animation a single room is the setting for a lyrical dance through time about family roots. The objects in the room swirl, rearrange and change themselves to reflect the passing seasons, years and generations. As Victorian Christmas fantasies give way to computer-age realities, the procession of objects reaffirms the values that endure the vagaries of fashion and the ravages of time.
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Yannick Nézet-Séguin: No IntermissionTheodore Ushev 2010 5 minHe is a young man; an optimist drawn to dark music and the themes of death and suffering. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has gained a reputation for his dedication, musicality and charisma. Combining documentary and animation, this short film captures his energy and passion, both in performance and in conversation.
