An old man is entrusted in curing a young girl struck by amnesia. He takes her on a healing trip, eccentric and joyous, to Ouagadougou by way of the Cape, Berlin, Mali, Belgium… In their travels full of surprises, they meet characters both remarkable and luminous, or ignorant, with set ideas, some fabulous creatures, and a text hidden deep in a continent that reveals a well-kept secret: Africa has something to tell us.
This lavish, cinematic realisation of Stravinsky's neo-classic masterpiece, performed in English, is filmed both in studio and on location. The imaginative richness in the music is complemented by costumes and sets which are, by turn, exquisitely garish and darkly grotesque to intoxicating effect.
In 1988, Figaro magazine asked a few famous directors to direct a series of short movies to celebrate the 10 years of the revue. The movies have been released for the French revolution bicentenary. Includes: Werner Herzog's Les Gaulois, David Lynch's The Cowboy and the Frenchman, Andrzej Wajda's Proust contre la déchéance, Luigi Comencini's Pèlerinage à Agen, Jean-Luc Godard's Le dernier mot.
The film tells the story of a love affair between a poor poet and an equally poor seamstress in 19th century Paris.
"Despite the multitude of characters and situations, the plot is simple: the eternal flow of life. It is based on Les contes fantastiques d’Hoffmann, a play by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, who were inspired by some of the stories of the German E.T.A. Hoffmann. On a drunken night in the city, Hoffmann tells how he courted and lost three girls, his impossible loves: Olympia, a mechanical doll that only he believes to be truly human; Giulietta, the courtesan who steals his reflection in a mirror; and Antonia, a young woman who sings until she literally dies." Venue & Opera Company: Teatro Regio di Parma Recorded: 1988 Singers: Alredo Kraus, Ruth Welting, Jonathan Omilian, Barbara Hendricks, Elena Zilio, Nicola Gjiuselev, Bruno Buulgarelli, Francis Egerton, Aldo Bottion Orchestra: Orchestra Sinfonica dell'Emilia-Romagna "Arturo Toscanini" Chorus: Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma Chorus Master: Adolfo Tanhzi Stage Director: Beppe de Tomasi
Barbara Hendricks (born November 20, 1948) is an American operatic soprano and concert singer. Hendricks has lived in Europe since 1977, and in Switzerland in Basel since 1985. She is a citizen of Sweden following her marriage to a Swedish citizen. Hendricks was born in Stephens, Arkansas. Growing up, she sang and took voice lessons and was often asked to sing solos. She graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and chemistry at the age of 20. She attended the Aspen Music Festival and School and then attended Juilliard School of Music in New York, where she studied with mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel and participated in master classes led by soprano Maria Callas. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in music. In 1974, Hendricks made her professional operatic debut in Europe at the Glyndebourne Festival and in America at the San Francisco Opera. During her career, she has appeared at major opera houses throughout the world, including the Opéra National de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and La Scala. In 1998 she sang Liù in the historical performance of Turandot at the Forbidden City in Beijing. Hendricks has performed more than twenty roles, twelve of which she has recorded. Hendricks has appeared on film as Mimì in La bohème, and in 1995 she sang the role of Anne Truelove in the Swedish film Rucklarens väg, an adaptation of Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress. In 2007, she appeared in the film Disengagement by Amos Gitai and starring Juliette Binoche. She also recorded Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, which is the main theme for the film. Hendricks also performs jazz music and made her jazz debut at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1994. Since that time, she has performed at major jazz festivals around the world. Hendricks is also known for her love of chamber music and has organized a number of chamber music festivals. In 2004, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, she created the role of Angel in the world premiere of Péter Eötvös' opera Angels in America, after the play by Tony Kushner. In January 2006, she left EMI, and created the new label Arte Verum for which she records exclusively. In 2018, Hendricks sang "La Marseillaise" with the Choir of the French Army at the interment ceremony of Simone Veil in the Panthéon. Source: Article "Barbara Hendricks" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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