Coming from a musical and theatrical background, Ralf Pleger has been internationally acclaimed for his innovative music films and film portraits of notable personalities. The musical feel of his films, the suggestive imageries and unorthodox narrative styles are award-winning signature features. Awards include the Public Award of the World Film Festival Montreal, and the ECHO Klassik Award. His film “WAGNERWAHN” received a nomination for the International EMMY Award.

 

Starring opera superstar Joyce DiDonato in the title role, Ralf Pleger created his latest cinematic production “The Florence Foster Jenkins Story” in 2016. The film tells the unbelievable story of the “worst singer of all time” in a flamboyant mix of drama and documentary.

 

Ralf Pleger studied Musicology; Art History; and Italian in Berlin and Milan. Freelancing as a dramaturge he contributed to various international Opera productions, including the Berlin State Opera – Unter den Linden, and the Innsbrucker Festwochen. He simultaneously worked as an author and director for various film productions and television broadcasters.

 

As a film director Ralf Pleger has worked together with internationally renowned artists from various fields such as Daniel Barenboim, Plácido Domingo, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Teodor Currentzis, Cameron Carpenter, Vivienne Westwood and Donna Leon.

 

Ralf Pleger’s staging of “In War & Peace” adds a new dimension to his long-term artistic relationship with Joyce DiDonato. Together with the multi-faceted opera singer and the light artist Henning Blum he developed a concept which is based on a suggestive light design and enhances the concert program with a contemporary, non-literal, yet cohesive narrative. The challenge of reconciliation can be seen as one of the key inspirations for the show.