Julia Varady ou le chant possédé
Bruno Monsaingeon
1998 - 55 min - Beta numérique 16/9e - Couleur et Noir & Blanc - France, Allemagne

Julia Varady is one of the most revered singers in music today. Yet to the general public she remains a largely unfamiliar figure. The film retraces the phases of her career and follows her current activities in order to penetrate the intense universe of one of the most fascinating vocal and musical talents of our time. Today she is at the summit of her art, moving with ease from Mozart to Puccini, from the Viennese operetta to Wagner lieder.
The film centers around a long interview filmed in Portugal : Julia talks about her apprenticeship in Romania, her sudden flight from that country, her settling in Germany and her professional debut there. We also see her in rehearsals at the Berlin Opera, with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau conducting the orchestra, work sessions with Viktoria Postnikova at the piano, as well as archive footage of Julia Varady at the start of her career and scenes from operas by Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, Wagner with such conductors as Muti, Karajan, Harnoncourt...