Born in 1941 in the port town of Mindelo on the Capo Verde island of Sao Vicente, Cesaria Evora, also known as Cize, was discovered in 1988 at the ripe age of 47.

Known as the “barefoot diva” because of her propensity to appear on stage in her bare feet in support of the disadvantaged women and children of her country, Cesaria is known for her sentimental folk tunes filled with longing and sadness. Accompanied with the acoustic sounds of guitar, cavaquinho, violin, accordion and clarinet, her blues often speak of Capo Verde’s long and bitter history of isolation, slave trade and emigration – Almost two-thirds of the million Capo Verdeans live abroad. Cesaria’s conveyance of longing is reminiscent of Amalia Rodrigues and her smooth voice is comparable to the legendary Billie Holiday.

Known as the queen of the Morna, a soulful genre sung in Creole-Portugese, her music also connects the fado of Portugal to the choro of Brazil and other forms of the formerly Portugese colonial islands off the Northwest coast of Africa.

Now a whiskey-drinking, cigarette-puffing grandmother, Cesaria Evora is an international sensation – Her Grammy-nominated self-titled debut topped year-end critics lists in more than a dozen publications and remained in the top 5 albums of Billboard’s world music chart for more than six months prompting the likes of The New York Times to write “Her songs of loss and longing are as heart-rending as they are spellbinding”.

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Dale Chihuly, a glass artisan from Seattle, is the world’s most renowned Venetian glass blower. His art has been the focus of spectacular shows in Italy, Germany, Japan, France, Sweden and Australia among others, featured in over 170 museums across the world and adorns landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, The White House and homes of celebrities and collectors which include Bill Gates and Elton John.

After two years in the planning, Dale Chihuly returned to the place where glass was invented over six thousand years ago and unveiled his biggest undertaking ever; Chihuly – In the Lights of Jerusalem. Set at the ancient Citadel in Jerusalem against the Tower of David, Chihuly’s sculptures present the melting of art & history – The tenacity of rock as a backdrop for the fragility of glass.

Chihuly – In the Lights of Jerusalem displays art brought in twelve containers carrying over ten thousand pieces of handblown glass and acrylic from the United States, Japan, The Czech Republic, Finland and France as well as original sculptures blown in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The crowning finale of the Chihuly exhibit is the 64 tons of special blue ice shipped from Alaska and sculpted into a symbolic wall. As colorful and multi-faleted as his art, Dale Chihuly will guide us through the logistics, preparations and erection of this magnificent extravaganza as well as provide insight into his world, art and what inspires his

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An Encounter With the Past is a journey of healing and reconciliation that is laced around an epic musical and a small industrial German city. Originally conceived and written by Kurt Weill, the play The Eternal Road was first performed in 1937 in New York and directed by Max Reinhardt. It has now come full circle to the former East German town of Chemnitz to be performed by a German theatre company helmed by the principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, John Mauceri.

The Eternal Road is an opera that foreshadowed the fate of German Jewry. It is a testament of spirituality that began in the summer of 1934 at a castle in the Austrian Alps. There, a Viennese novelist, Franz Werfel, an exiled German opera composer, Kurt Weill and a theater director from Berlin, Max Reinhardt, made a pact – To compose an epic opera that symbolized the threatened condition of their people. The result was The Eternal Road (Der Weg Der Verheissung) – A biblical morality play that would later prove a prophecy for the Jews who once called Germany their home. Disembark on an odyssey along the life of The Eternal Road – A journey that began in pre-war Chemnitz about a generation that lived through the most tumultuous period of the twentieth century told through the eyes of Ron Frank, whose family came from Chemnitz, about a play that began as a warning and now ends in healing.

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A collection of seven classical compositions. Concert performances of timeless works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Kodaly.

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Legends of Heavy Metal & Rock is a behind the scenes look about the people, the lifestyles, and the music which have made these bands legends. The series includes never before seen interviews and behind the scenes footage which combine to create a timeless tribute to some of the world’s greatest bands. The series includes:

Anthrax

Bon Jovi

Damn Yankees

Def Leppard

KISS 1

KISS Forever

Poison

Scorpions

Skid Row

Slaughter

White Lion

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Noam Sheriff's REVIVAL OF THE DEAD was commissioned by the Dutch patron of the arts, Bernard Bronkhorst, as a "monument in sound" to the victims of the Holocaust and to the builders of Israel. The music incorporates melodies of traditional prayer and tunes in balance between document and composition. It is a symphonic work in four movements, each representing a different era and psychological state of mind, which is developed organically like a tree with branches extending into each of the four movements.

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