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Documentary series focusing on great American artists and personalities.

In May 2009, 29 young contestants came from all over the world to compete in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth Texas, the most prestigious prize in the music world. This is the story of one of them, a 20 year old from Tokyo, Nobuyuki Tsujii, blind from birth.

The career of dancer-defector Alexander Godunov traced from his days in Latvia, where Baryshnikov was a classmate, to his 1982 American tour. Performances, rare Soviet footage, interviews with Jacqueline Bisset and other friends.

Not since Paganini had there been such a magician on the violin. Jascha Heifetz was the first truly modern virtuoso, a man about whom Itzhak Perlman said, 'When I spoke with him, I can't believe, I'm talking to God'. Heifetz was a legendary but mysterious figure whose story embodies the dual nature of artistic genius. The paradox of how a mortal man lives with immortal gifts - gifts he must honor, but which extract a life-long price. Is the man and the artist the same person? What is the price each pays? And who was the man behind the music?

90-minute special on the architect. Filmed throughout the world over a two-year period.

Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Henry Geldzahler reflects on the 1960s pop art scene in New York.

A documentary about the life of Soviet Armenian composer Aram Khachaturyan. Among other events, the film covers Khachaturyan's difficulties working as a creative artist during the Stalin era.

"A delightful documentary about Anderson, in which we get to know the man as well as his music, through interviews with colleagues and family members, as well as footage of Anderson himself and musicians ranging from Arthur Fiedler to Judy Garland... There doesn't seem to be a place for what used to be considered mainstream music any more... and America is the poorer for it. That's why I'm so glad for the release of Once Upon a Sleigh Ride." Leonard Maltin, June 9, 2001

Pulling back the curtain of world-class opera, "Finding Eleazar" is an intimate portrait of renowned tenor NEIL SHICOFF as he prepares for the role of a lifetime. The film offers rare access to studio recordings, rehearsal rooms, and tense late-night creative sessions as Shicoff confronts the complex role of Eléazar in the French opera "La Juive" ("The Jewess"). Written by Fromental Halevy in 1835, the opera is being revived today for the first time since the Nazis banned it in 1936 for its timeless message about intolerance and fanaticism. The role transforms Shicoff as he moves from starring in a music video of the opera's famous "Rachel" aria, directed by film icon SIDNEY LUMET, to a live performance at the Vienna State Opera. Shicoff is forced to face his sown religion, his personal angst, his mortality. He becomes the character and Eleazar becomes Shicoff as he translates his "nervosity" into a message of compassion that reaches far beyond himself.

Commemoration of the New York Stock Exchange's 200th Anniversary. Wide-screen, surround sound presentation for visitor's center.

"Rachmaninoff Revisited" is the first comprehensive biography of the great Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. (1873-1943) Featuring commentary and performances by today's most respected pianists, this is a story of overcoming severe hardships and eventual redemption through the power of music.

Follows the work of the architects from all over world who came together to design the UN Headquarters in New York.

The film portrays Olga Kern's path to stardom; her fights and personal struggles as a single mother in the deepest labyrinths of classical music's elite world during the first couple of years after winning gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

By 1939, 30,000 intellectuals and radicals were exiled from Europe, 80% were Jewish. These dramatic events sent many of the greatest minds of the 20th century into exile in the United States The manna of creative intensity that hovered over Berlin in the 20's, - in music, art, theater and film -that glow of aesthetic productivity was extinguished. In some ways, Los Angeles in the 30's and early 40's may be seen as its afterglow...when scores of exiles, fleeing the upsurge of European fascism, briefly transformed Southern California into one of the capitals of world culture, and profoundly altered the horizons of American music, literature, and the arts. What drew them to California? The balmy Mediterranean climate that always had been an attraction for those in cold Northern European climates. Los Angeles offered Hollywood with its tantalizing opportunities for employment. Most importantly, the attraction of so many others who had already settled there offered its own magnetic pull. Many musicians found work in the movie studios. Their influence was not so much in the mass culture of the movie studios, but in the universities, in concerts and the musical sophistication of the city. Thomas Mann wrote, "Exile creates a special form of life, and the various reasons for banishment make little difference - the sharing of a common fate are more fundamental than such nuances of opinion... and people find their way to one another. . All of German literature had settled here," Thomas Mann was in many ways the center for the German intellectuals - albeit not always a popular one - his aloofness and arrogance saw to that: "What is homelessness? My home is in the works that I take with me. They are (German) language and style of thought, the traditional treasures of my country and people. Where I am, there is Germany." Mann wrote Doctor Faustus and Joseph and His Brothers in L.A., became an outspoken public figure, speaking out against the dangers of Fascism, and the reality of what was happening to the Jews of Europe. Despite his initial euphoria about the cultural prospects of Southern California, Max Reinhardt found himself expected to punch a studio timeclock like any factory worker. In 1942 he left dejectedly for New York City. Many of the arriving professionals were forced to downgrade their professions-- musicians becoming chauffeurs, concert pianists becoming piano tuners. A story often repeated by the exiles: "Two dachshunds meet on the palisade in Santa Monica and schmooze about their fortunes. "Here, it's true, I'm a dachshund, but in the old country I was a Saint Bernard!" Brecht arrived, broke, in need of work, and set himself up as the unshaven working man- embarrassed bourgeois intellectuals, who were ripe for his satire, especially the aloof and haughty Thomas Mann, keeper of the great German intellectual flame. Brecht, who lived in Santa Monica, chose to remain a stateless person, an exile in waiting, a passer-by, a man on the run.

One hour biography of the life of the famous Metropolitan Opera tenor.

This is a documentary on the career of the great maestro (perhaps intended as a rebuttal to the controversial book "Understanding Toscanini", which was being written at the same time that the documentary first aired. PBS aired it in 1988, a year after the book hit the stores.). The documentary features clips from several of Toscanini's television appearances, as well as from his only film appearance in 1943. It also includes rare color home movie footage of not only Toscanini, but Salzburg in the 1930's during the Salzburg festival, as well as interviews with some of the surviving musicians, singers, and recording technicians who worked with him.

Two hour documentary on the famous music competition for young pianists from all over the world.

A Japanese mother and daughter wish to start an art museum with their collection. The location is a nature preserve deep in the Japanese mountains. I.M. Pei is contracted as the architect. The project faces several hurdles: the building must be no taller than forty feet, the roof must be sloped, and so on. The architect, owners, and builders surmount all obstacles. A magnificent and innovative bridge connects visitors to the tunnel by which they enter the museum. After construction is complete, a large percentage of the building is covered with earth, which is then reforested to give the illusion that the site was hardly disturbed. Interviews with I.M. Pei show his awe and gratitude at being involved with such a grand project.

Children's Special for CBS on the Starlight Foundation, an organization that grants the wishes of terminally or chronically ill children. Hosted by Starlight co-founder actress Emma Samms.

From childhood injury, to physical disability, and a lifetime battling arthritis, famous classical pianist Byron Janis has fought adversity his whole life. He stands as a lesson to all those who face hurdles in life and can still succeed.

Can the son of J. Paul Getty, at one time the richest man in the world, be a serious composer?

Two hour programs co-produced with the BBC, Arts & Entertainment Network, and ICM Artists Video. Executive Producers Lee Lamont, Peter Rosen. Yo-Yo Ma, Emanual Ax, Leon Fleisher, Roger Norrington, Bobby McFerrin, Isaac Stern, Jian Wang, John Williams, and many others perform and discuss their lives in a lively presentation from Tanglewood.