Behind the Curtain: Fascinating Artist Documentaries

One of my favorite parts of the medici.tv catalogue is our collection of hundreds of documentaries, in particular those that take us behind the scenes into the everyday lives of famous musicians. While studying music performance at conservatory level and playing in orchestras throughout my childhood and university life, I caught a glimpse of what it’s like to train for a career as a professional musician — the competitiveness and stress, the six-hour (or more!) practice days, the utter determination and passion of those striving to make it as a soloist or conductor… I therefore find it fascinating to discover the offstage lives of those who made it big. Here are some of my favorite documentaries that follow artists I admire, and reveal the real person behind the genius. Join me in uncovering the touching personal backstories and professional methods of some of the world’s most accomplished classical musicians and find out who they really are…

Nobu: Touching the Sound

Meet Nobu, Nobuyuki Tsujii, an astonishing Japanese pianist whose staggering talent and soulful, ego-free playing makes his music connect with audiences across the globe. Featuring interviews with his family, teacher, manager, and the virtuoso himself, Touching the Sound documents the incredible story of a world-famous pianist, blind from birth, who started playing the piano at the age of two, learned to read music using braille, and memorized whole pieces by listening to tapes made by his teacher. Witness his unique musical beginnings, then go behind the scenes at various moments in his musical life, including his 2009 Cliburn Competition triumph and the preparations for his Carnegie Hall debut in 2011. I was struck by his down-to-earth personality, natural charisma, and genuine curiosity about the world around him. Maybe these elements are part of what makes his music, as his manager puts it, “[like] a kind of magic.”

Hilary Hahn, An Intimate Portrait

Travel back to the early 2000s when now-globally-renowned violin star Hilary Hahn was in the midst of her meteoric rise, playing some of the most beloved and challenging violin pieces with the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors. A 24-year-old Hahn talks us through her personal relationship with her repertoire, which ranges from Bach and Paganini to Vaughan Williams and Korngold. Follow the virtuoso as she tours the world, juggling a jam-packed performing and recording schedule with language learning and media appearances. This captivating film also includes performance extracts including her breathtaking renditions of Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending with the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Finale to Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Major with Kent Nagano and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Jacqueline Du Pré and the Elgar Cello Concerto 

One of many documentaries on medici.tv about legendary cellist Jacqueline Du Pré, this film depicts her extraordinary relationship with the Elgar Cello Concerto, a piece that she held close throughout her career and which transformed her life in both a personal and professional capacity. The documentary begins with a glimpse into Du Pré’s life after the onset of her illness as she works on fingerings for the Elgar Concerto for her students (what a privilege it must have been to be taught by Du Pré!). We then see a film that Christopher Nupen made with the cellist in 1967 that traces her childhood and cello-playing journey; she discusses her teachers, instruments, performances, and her affinity with the Elgar. The film gives extraordinary insight into her attitudes towards her life as a professional cellist and reveals who she was as a musician: utterly dedicated to the music itself and to the composer’s intentions, without any of the bells and whistles of stardom or showmanship. Her complete performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim makes up the second half of the documentary: “a performance that is,” notes Christopher Nupen, “remarkable by any standards and, for many, quite unforgettable.”

These are just a few of the many compelling stories captured in film on medici.tv — some of my other favorite artist documentaries include Zhu Xiao-Mei, How Bach Defeated Mao, that follows the celebrated pianist as she returns to her native China to perform Bach after 35 years of exile in Paris; Klaus Mäkelä, Towards the Flame, a Bruno Monsaingeon film in which the acclaimed conductor discusses his musical upbringing and fascinating conducting methods; and Itzhak Perlman, Virtuoso Violinist, an inspirational look at the formative years of one of the most extraordinary musical careers of our time! And the stories don’t stop there…