Carnegie Hall Launches New Premium Subscription Video On-Demand Channel

It is the first premium subscription on-demand channel of its kind established by an American performing arts institution.

By: Dec. 08, 2021
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Carnegie Hall Launches New Premium Subscription Video On-Demand Channel

Available in the United States and internationally starting today on the Apple TV app, Carnegie Hall is introducing Carnegie Hall+, a new premium subscription video on-demand channel (SVOD), curated by Carnegie Hall, that offers instant access to unforgettable performances by celebrated artists from renowned stages all around the world.

Aligned with Carnegie Hall's mission to bring the transformative power of music to the widest possible audience, it is the first premium subscription on-demand channel of its kind established by an American performing arts institution.

With many programs offered exclusively on Carnegie Hall+ and most available in the United States for the first time, the newly-launched premium SVOD channel features an extensive range of performances by legendary stars of today and yesterday, from many of the finest concert halls, opera houses, and festivals in the world. The channel line-up includes new and historic full-length classical music concerts, operas, ballets, artist portraits, music documentaries, and offerings for families-with selections made by Carnegie Hall.

In its initial launch phase, Carnegie Hall+ is available to music lovers in the US and 60 territories worldwide as a premium channel on the Apple TV app. Beginning today, US customers can sign up for a seven-day free trial and subscribe directly to Carnegie Hall+ on the Apple TV app for $7.99 per month. The channel will soon expand into other Apple TV territories and languages. It will become available on additional service providers during 2022 and beyond.

Carnegie Hall+ will feature programming themes and highlights, with new offerings added to the channel monthly, creating an ever-growing destination for the best arts programming. All selections feature state-of-the-art video and audio quality for viewers seeking the ultimate home theater experience.

"Carnegie Hall+ opens a window to viewers to some of the world's most thrilling artists and arts destinations, creating an at-home journey of musical discovery," said Carnegie Hall's Executive and Artistic Director Clive Gillinson. "Featuring an extensive and growing collection of the world's finest presentations, the channel invites people to enjoy full-length arts performances and films wherever they may be, presented on a scale previously unavailable. While we believe that you can't replace the power of live performances, this launch is especially important at a time when everyone has come to expect access to the best of every kind of programming at the push of a button. In addition, it offers unique access to the most remarkable performances from around the world in a way that would otherwise require an impossible travel schedule to see live."

Carnegie Hall+ has been created through a partnership between Carnegie Hall and Unitel, the world's leading classical music audiovisual producer and distributor. Presentations featured on the channel will be selected from Unitel's stellar catalog, one of the largest of its kind in the world. The company, founded more than 50 years ago in Munich, Germany by Leo Kirch and Herbert von Karajan, owes its one-of-a-kind collection to its long-term, often exclusive artistic partnerships with leading performing arts institutions, including the Salzburg Festival, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Arena di Verona, Staatsoper Berlin, Staatsoper Vienna, Staatskapelle Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Pierre Boulez Saal, Stuttgart Ballet, and the BBC Proms.

Unitel has worked with artists for more than half a century to capture landmark performances and productions utilizing the latest available technology. Given Unitel's long-standing emphasis on quality, Carnegie Hall+ enables viewers to create an optimal home theater experience, offering state-of-the-art video and audio formats with all presentations offered in high-definition (HD) and newer programs available in 4K Ultra HD (4K UHD) and Dolby Atmos.

"Unitel's unparalleled collection of the world's leading performers features many artists who have long been favorites performing at Carnegie Hall, so we thought that they would be the ideal partner for the creation of our virtual stage, Carnegie Hall+," said Mr. Gillinson. "In addition, we will be expanding Carnegie Hall+ over time to embrace many other genres of music so that, like Carnegie Hall, the channel will represent the best of every area of music."

Select programming highlights available now on Carnegie Hall+ include:

  • A concert by Gustavo Dudamel and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra joined by pianist Evgeny Kissin, performed at the 2020 Salzburg Festival (4K UHD and Dolby Atmos)
  • A duo-recital with superstar pianists Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim, filmed for the 2021 digital edition of Salzburg's Mozart Week (4K UHD and Dolby Atmos)
  • Vienna at the Turn of the 20th Century, an evocative recital of lieder and arias performed by soprano Renée Fleming in Vienna's Musikverein in 2012
  • Leonard Bernstein's singular performance leading Mahler's Fifth Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 1972
  • Semyon Bychkov leading the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a performance of the complete ballet score to Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker
  • Leoncavallo's Pagliacci featuring tenor Jonas Kaufmann with Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden, directed by Philipp Stölzl for the 2015 Salzburg Easter Festival
  • Asmik Grigorian in two Richard Strauss operas at the Salzburg Festival: the 2018 production of Salome and 2020 performance of Elektra, both with Franz Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Anna Netrebko in two Verdi operas at the Salzburg Festival: In the title role of Aida with Riccardo Muti leading the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in a production staged by Shirin Neshat in 2017, and her star-making performance in La Traviata with Rolando Villazón and Thomas Hampson in 2005
  • Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by Teodor Currentzis, featuring Russell Thomas, Golda Schultz, and Willard White from the 2017 Salzburg Festival
  • Two productions envisioned by director/visual artist William Kentridge: Schubert's Winterreise with Matthias Goerne and Markus Hinterhäuser, staged for the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in 2014; and Berg's Wozzeck featuring Matthias Goerne and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Vladimir Jurowski, at the Salzburg Festival in 2017
  • The legendary performance of Verdi's Requiem from 1967 with Luciano Pavarotti and Leontyne Price, conducted by Herbert von Karajan at La Scala in Milan
  • The historic Wagner Centenary Ring cycle directed by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by Pierre Boulez from the Bayreuth Festival in 1979/1980
  • The official 250th anniversary production of Beethoven's Fidelio performed in Theater an der Wien, the opera house in which the work was first performed. Directed by Oscar winner Christoph Waltz and conducted by Manfred Honeck, this was the last opera production to take place in Vienna prior to the 2020 COVID lockdown (4K UHD and Dolby Atmos)
  • The Bolshoi Ballet in London-Paul Czinner's Oscar-nominated film-which captures the fabled company's 1956 performance at London's Royal Opera House with the celebrated Galina Ulanova as Giselle and the "Dying Swan"
  • On Body, the three-part ballet choreographed by the innovative Richard Siegal, performed in Munich in 2018 by Ballet of Difference, his diverse troupe which merges classical ballet tradition, contemporary dance, and pop culture in an extraordinary dance event (4K UHD and Dolby Atmos)
  • Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake performed by the Vienna State Ballet with choreography by Rudolf Nureyev, presented in 2014 with new sets and costumes to mark the 50th anniversary of the production


Viewers can also enjoy performances by conductor Daniel Barenboim with both the Staatskapelle Berlin and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra; violinist Itzhak Perlman as soloist with Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra; Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra joined by cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason; plus acclaimed concerts led by conductors Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle and extraordinary performances by pianists Alfred Brendel, Maurizio Pollini, Sir András Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, and Yuja Wang; vocalists Cecilia Bartoli, Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Isabel Leonard, and Anna Netrebko; violinists Leonidas Kavakos, Midori, and Anne-Sophie Mutter, and many more.

Included among historic offerings from past decades are concerts by Claudio Abbado with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Leonard Bernstein with the London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Mariss Jansons with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Herbert von Karajan with the Berliner Philharmoniker; Carlos Kleiber and the Bavarian State Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Georg Solti with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and performances by cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and pianist Artur Rubinstein, to name only a few.

Programming drawn from the world of theater and film includes Bernstein on Broadway-a magical concert featuring the Melbourne Symphony led by Bramwell Tovey-musically capturing Bernstein's love of New York City with songs from "Wonderful Town," "On the Town," "West Side Story," and more.

In addition, Hollywood in Vienna: A Tribute to Danny Elfman pays tribute to one of the world's most accomplished film composers with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by James Shearman and John Mauceri, performing Elfman's musical gems from the big screen including selections from "The Lion King," "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and "La La Land."

As the channel develops, new digital presentations from Carnegie Hall as well as historic offerings such as selections from Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts will be added. All programs will include English subtitles (where needed) as well as closed captioning.

Starting Wednesday evening (EST), December 8, visit carnegiehallplus.com for updates.



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