Listening through the Lens – The Christopher Nupen Films

A film about the pioneering career of Christopher Nupen (1934-2023), who founded one of the first independent production companies in the 1960s, at the dawn of the music documentary era.

Seizing upon the emerging camera technology and his unique access to a golden generation of artists, he made more than 80 films on classical music in a completely new and intimate way. His pioneering portrait films count among their subjects Daniel Barenboim, Jacqueline du Pré, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Nathan Milstein, Andrés Segovia, Yevgeny Kissin, Karim Said, and Daniil Trifonov, many of whom have become lifelong friends. His 1969 film "The Trout" is legend. His film "We Want the Light" (presented in our "Cinematic Variations on Live Classical Music" series last season) has won some of the most prized awards in documentary making, including the Jewish Cultural Award for Film and Television, 2003-2004.

"Christopher Nupen pioneered a style of filming music and music making for television in which his excellence has rarely been equaled and never excelled. Of that genre he is the undoubted master". (Jeremy Isaacs, former chief executive of Channel 4; general director, Royal Opera House)