(Photo Credits: Photofest) It’s no surprise that Richard Wagner’s music is a popular choice for cinematic moments of intense dramaticism, humor, horror, suspense, philosophical gravity, and pleasure. From the many comical moments in the 1957 Warner Bros’ film, “What’s Opera, Doc?,” Werner Herzog’s sobering 1992 documentary experience, “Lessons of Darkness,” the endearing 1930 film, “Fire At The Opera,” or the {…}

The nature of cinematography and (classical) singing is long-winded. From some of the early experiments like the acclaimed  1927 film, “The Jazz Singer” by Warner Bros, to the emergence of new giants like Metro-Goldwyn-Mayers Studios (MGM) and their copious amount of opera-laced films like their 1935 film, “A Night at The Opera,” opera on film has had a long development. {…}

The aftermath of World War One was defined in Europe, quite remarkably, by multiple, simultaneous cultural advances and experiments. These revolutionary developments ranged from classical music shedding its attachment to romantic tendencies and exploring expressionism, through art embracing the surrealist extensions of the mystical, to cinematic developments, and even architectural conflicts between modernism and classicism. In the Germanic world, suffering {…}

What does an unfinished opera have in common with a historical landmark, Chinese cultural history, thousands of singers, eloquent music, and expert dramaturgy? In 1998, just like Wagner’s trilogy, these disparate elements come together to form a work of epic proportion in Zhang Yimou and Zubin Mehta’s collaborative project, “Turandot at the Forbidden City.” In this article, we will explore {…}

Albert Edward Sutherland’s film “Champagne Waltz” (1937) is many things. A film where jazz coolness and Viennese waltz culture combine in a forceful yet graceful dance of push and pull, punctuated by a story about a romance born from rivalry as two cultures butt heads before ultimately capitulating to the other. Starring soprano Gladys Swarthout, whose singing in the film was {…}