Classical music is a proud part of the German cultural tradition and bringing this to a world audience is something DW does very well. The DW classical music concert production Schumann at Pier 2 recently won two awards in Asia and altogether has won 12 prestigious awards at international film and TV festivals.

Schumann at Pier 2 was awarded the Gold Panda Award for most innovative film in the anthropology documentary category at the 2013 Sichuan TV Festival, one of Asia’s largest TV festivals. The DW musical documentary was among 5,000 productions from 77 countries which were submitted this year.

The judges said the film, “showed the beauty of romantic music with incentive scenes” with “gorgeous visual tone plus elegant and rhythmic music.” Director Christian Berger said that he was very pleased about winning the award and “it was our goal from the very beginning to present classical music in a contemporary way.”  In Japan the film also won the 2013 Japan Record Academy Award, a prestigious award in Japan given out for classical music productions.
The film is a two-part series that gives takes you inside the rehearsals for a special presentation of Schumann’s four symphonies at Bremen’s Pier2. You can watch the film here online.

Classical music is one of the most coveted aspects of German culture and DW has always been in tune with this, taking global audiences behind the music with documentaries like Schumann at Pier 2 and the Beethoven Project.  DW’s latest classical music film production, The Highest Level, recently premiered to much acclaim in Berlin. The film was directed by DW’s prize winning director, Christian Berger. It follows the Chinese pianist Lang Lang and the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle as they put together a stunning performance of Piano Concerto No. 2 by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók and Piano Concerto No. 3 by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. The two pieces are considered to be some of the most intricate and complicated for pianists.  A sneak preview is available now on Euromaxx on DW.  You can see the film on DW television in English, German, Spanish and Arabic from Saturday, November 30 to Monday, December 2 as part of the In Focus documentary series. On December 1 it will be available on-demand in DW’s media center. For those who can’t wait Sony Classical will release the film on October 25, 2013, on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. You can buy the audio CD now online.

DW was once again recognized for its music documentary The Beethoven Project – this time at the New York Festivals International Television and Film Awards. The film received the Silver World Medal in the category “The Arts”. This is the 14^th award for the four-part documentary, which focuses on star conductor Paavo Järvi and selected members of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.

Global Ideas also picked up a “Finalist Certificate” in the category “Environment & Ecology”.

Every year, DW highlights the work of young musicians by inviting youth orchestras around the world to perform at Bonn’s Beethovenfest. Now, DW is taking it one step further with its DW Music Campus page on Facebook. It offers the latest information on music and cultural exchange in Germany and provides a platform for musicians – especially young musicians – to exchange ideas and opinions.

DW is looking for people to join in on the conversation – so whether you have participated in the Orchestra Campus project in the past, or are just interested in classical music, go to Facebook and get involved.

Or just listen – DW offers a full range of podcasts from the Beethovenfest performances.