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Christine Schafer: My Art of Singing on DVD

In this light-hearted documentary portrait, Christine Schafer reveals how she has come to position herself in the top ranks of today's sopranos while still maintaining her artistic freedom. With razor-sharp wit and intelligence, she describes how she keeps herself grounded in a world that craves celebrities. Among the friends and colleagues who provide insights into her artistry as well as her refreshing normality are conductors Christian Thielemann and Sylvain Cambreling, stage director Christoph Marthaler, music journalist Jurgen Kesting, singer Jose van Dam and others. Christine Schafer is the anti-diva of the vocal world, a no-nonsense, down-to-earth singer who transforms her opera roles and lieder recitals into grippingly realistic scenes of universal human drama. When it comes to choosing her repertoire and her roles, she unwaveringly follows her own path and refuses to subject herself to marketing campaigns designed to stamp her as the new heroine of whatever is currently in demand. With a repertoire ranging from early music to contemporary works, Schafer does not need a specialty, and can even indulge in "light" music with Max Raabe's Palastorchester and hits of the 1920s. Excerpts from concert performances and rehearsals of works by Henry Purcell and George Crumb, from performances of Brahms' Deutsches Requiem, Verdi's La Traviata, and Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro impressively confirm her reputation as "the most versatile and exciting young female singer of today." (Suddeutsche Zeitung)