4

In four corners of the globe on four different days throughout the year, four violinists come together to perform Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.

Film Signature Image
Series
Global Voices
Premiere Date
May 15, 2011
Length
60 minutes
Funding Initiative
International
  • Nominated laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    2007 International Documentary Association (IDA)-IDA / Alan Ett Music Documentary Award
    • Director

    Timothy Slade

    Tim’s films have screened throughout Australia and internationally in cinemas, film festivals, in-flight, and online. They are represented by distribution companies in New York and Australia and have been sold in Europe, the U.S., and the UK. He has received funding through government bodies including the Film Finance Corporation, the New South Wales… Show more Film and Television Office and SBS Independent. I Was Robert Mitchum (short) was invited to screen at the Sydney Film Festival in 1999 and went onto screen at festivals worldwide in the UK, France, Germany and the USA. It was the selected short film at a special screening for members of Parliament, invited by the Premier of New South Wales. Musical Renegades, a documentary about the Australian Chamber Orchestra, has travelled to France and the UK, and has screened extensively and internationally on Qantas during 2003 and 2004. Tim formed Vast Productions as director, with Joanna Buggy, in mid 2004 with the aim of developing Australia-based and international projects of significant cultural value. Show less

    Producer

    Joanna Buggy

    Joanna has extensive experience in international artist management and performing arts production. A producer of high profile performances, as well as recordings of leading contemporary and classical ensembles and individual artists, she has also managed the careers of distinguished international opera singers, instrumentalists, and… Show more conductors. Special projects include managing the 2002 Dalai Lama Tribute Concert at the Sydney Opera House, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra Australian Tour (2004), and her producer role on Dead Man Walking (Opera Pacific, USA) for Sydney, 2007. She has produced two Sydney Festival music programs, and has worked with Edinburgh Festival as Concerts Manager. Buggy was the associate producer on Musical Renegades (Australian Chamber Orchestra 2002) and is director of Vast Productions alongside Tim Slade, with whom she has a working relationship spanning many years. Show less

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    The Film

    It is April in Tokyo and spring has arrived — cherry blossoms sweep across the country, bursting into their short, magnificent lives in one of nature’s finest festivals. With Hanami as the backdrop, international violinist Sayaka Shoji returns to her homeland to lead young violin students through Vivaldi’s Spring Concerto. We share in their delight and surprise as they endeavor to relate the stories in this 300-year-old Italian music with their own modern Japanese experience.

    At the height of an Australian summer, Niki Vasilakis travels 3000 kilometres from her home in the far south, by train, car, boat, and plane, towards Australia’s northernmost town. Traversing the dry, red heart of the continent into the intense, wet season of the north, the gift of music is exchanged across cultures within this vast land. The tension in waiting for the relief of rain mirrors the music of the Summer Concerto, which drives this section with unstoppable force.

    As autumn dresses New York with her vibrant colors, a group of friends reunite at an old haunt near Central Park. Cho-Liang “Jimmy” Lin, a performer of great spirit, is the ring leader of this motley group, a rich cultural melting pot of musicians who chose to make New York their home many years ago. The energy and humor of these people is infectious, and driven by the music of the Autumn Concerto, we experience their city, past, present, and future through their intimate tales of this extraordinary place.

    Now it is winter, and in the furthest reaches of Finnish Lapland, Pekka Kuusisto and his musicians travel through the ice and dark to the home of an old family friend, to perform the Winter Concerto in a neighborhood concert. Here, far above the Arctic Circle, we reach the end of our international journey. In this remarkable landscape we celebrate the warmth and hope the language of music gives all of us.

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