'Currentzis – The Classical Rebel'

Teodor Currentzis has been shaking up the music world as he pushes genre boundaries, provokes with unusual actions and positions himself as the classical world's pop star. In the Russian industrial city of Perm, Currentzis has been creating spectacular music productions with his young orchestra, the MusicAeterna. The documentary looks at the extraordinary maestro, following him during the CD recording of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" opera.

The documentary will be broadcast worldwide by Deutsche Welle in four languages – German, English, Spanish and Arabic – as part of their television programming. The two-part film will be featured as a special edition of the Arts.21 magazine series and will be available via satellite as well as on dw.com. After September 24, both of the episodes will be available online on demand.

The week prior, Arte will present the film as part of its programming on Sunday, September 11. "Currentzis – The Classical Rebel" had its world premiere as part of the Montreal World Film Festival on August 31.

The elaborate music documentary was filmed foremost in Russia, in the industrial city of Perm, about 1,100 kilometers northeast of Moscow where Currentzis is the creative head of the opera house. Scenes also take place in Germany and Greece.

While Currentzis is much celebrated by audiences and critics, he prefers to distance himself from the established music scene. "Being a musician is not a job," the conductor said. "Would anyone suggest that Orpheus was a career musician? One could not say that. Or if Mozart was a professional musician? The term professional is simply another word for mediocrity."

Currentzis is far away from mediocrity, something he displays well during the recording of the "Don Giovanni" opera by Mozart in the winter of 2015. For two weeks, the perfectionist pushed his top players from the MusicAeterna and international soloists to their limits – and beyond.

"I'm doing what I think Mozart would have done with this orchestra," said Currentzis. The DW film offers exclusive insights into the artist's work as it follows him at the CD's recording in Perm, at concerts in Berlin, Dortmund and Saint Petersburg, as well as in his hometown of Athens.

"Currentzis – The Classical Rebel," is a co-production of Bernhard Fleischer Moving Images and ZDF/Arte in cooperation with Deutsche Welle and Sony Music. It was directed by Deutsche Welle's Christian Berger, who has filmed a number of prize-winning documentaries with classical stars, among them Lang Lang, Simon Rattle, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Paavo Järvi.

Documentary: "Currentzis – The Classical Rebel"
Length: 2 x 26 minute segments
Director: Christian Berger
Camera: Sven Jakob-Engelmann, Maxim Tarasyugin
Audio: Jörg Theiss, Tilo Feinermann
Editing: Janine Dauterich
Production: Bernhard Fleischer
Editor: Rolf Rische
Production Standard: HDTV 1080p/25

On Deutsche Welle at the following dates/times:
In English:
Part 1: Saturday, September 17, 11:30 p.m. (CET)
Part 2: Saturday, September 24, 11:30 p.m. (CET)
In German:
Part 1: Sunday, September 18, 4:30 p.m. (CET)
Part 2: Sunday, September 25, 4:30 p.m. (CET)

On Arte:
The full-length (52 minute) version: Sunday, September 11, 11:05 p.m. (CET)

The CD "Currentzis / MusicAeterna – Don Giovanni" will be released worldwide by Sony Classical on November 4.