Francesco Tristano

Although he is a highly regarded classical pianist, Francesco Tristano closes his concerts with a remarkable DJ set.  With these unique performances, part classical music and part electronic, the Luxembourg-based artist proves he can stimulate both mind and body.

Set in 1980s Melbourne, a disgraced jazz pianist attempts to get back into his former band by sabotaging his replacement.

It is about a music school in Philadelphia, The Paul Green School of Rock Music, run by Paul Green that teaches kids ages 9 to 17 how to play rock music and be rock stars. Paul Green teaches his students how to play music such as Black Sabbath and Frank Zappa better than anyone expects them to by using a unique style of teaching that includes getting very angry and acting childish.

The Third Part of the Third Measure creates an encounter with the militant minimalism of black avant-garde queer composer, pianist and vocalist Julius Eastman. The film focuses on what The Otolith Group describe as ‘an experience of watching in the key of listening’, invoking political feelings of defiance and the collective practice of movement building that participates in the global struggles against neoreactionary authoritarianism. The Third Part of the Third Measure invites viewers to attend to exemplary ecstatic aesthetics of black radicalism that Eastman himself once described as ‘full of honour, integrity and boundless courage’.

Under the guidance of famed American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, Polish classical pianist Krystian Zimerman and the Vienna Philharmonic deliver a rousing performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concertos nos. 3, 4 and 5. Premiered in 1808, Beethoven's fourth concerto marked the last time the composer would take the stage as a soloist with an orchestra.

Emil Gilels is well known as a Beethoven interpreter. His approach is characterized by a full bodied sound throughout a wide dynamic range, complete virtuosity and a structural sense that gives clarity to both local and global musical events.  His tempo choices make sense within a complete movement or entire sonata (he doesn't need to slow down dramatically for the second subject in Op.53's first movement) and he will mostly maintain a tempo with only slight fluctuations.

Pollini plays flawlessly, with the greatest finesse and sensitivity, very much in tune with each composer's personal style. His performances are exemplary in every respect. The video and audio are quite acceptable, given their 1970s vintage. Böhm and Abbado are at home in this repertoire, and the Wiener Philharmoniker in excellent form, notwithstanding a few strange noises coming from the horns.

Celebrating the end of World War II and liberation of their city, a group of students is set on holding a cultural evening. They invite Ema, a reclusive piano teacher from the same building, to play for them. Ema declines, but starts reminscing back on her own life and the historical events that have seemingly overshadowed it.

A guitar playing car thief meets an autistic savant piano player, and together they transform a group of reluctant halfway house convicts into The Killer Diller Blues Band.