Our Digital Film Haus is celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday with a series featuring various documentaries and discussions about LUDWIG VAN. Each film focuses on a different aspect of the composer’s work and life to explore influences and interpretations of his unforgettable music.

We are thrilled to welcome Axel Fuhrmann, the director of For Elise: Beethoven’s Bestseller for a virtual Happy Hour Q&A. Mr. Fuhrmann will join us via Zoom from Germany for this discussion on Tuesday, June 9th at 5:00 pm (CDT).

Axel Fuhrmann is the author, director, and producer of various music documentaries, opera and concert recordings. Since 2011, he has been running his own film production company, the DokFabrik in Bielefeld, Germany, which produces music documentaries for ARD, ZDF, Arte, and other international broadcasters.

His documentaries include: Der Traum vom Gesamtkunstwerk – Gegenwartskunst und Oper, Westside Story – Bernsteins Broadway Hit, Mondscheinsonate – Die Volkspianistin Elly Ney, and many more.

For his films Axel Fuhrmann worked together with numerous artists, such as Diana Damrau, Hélène Grimaud, Alice Sarah Ott, Gabriela Montero, Kit Armstrong, Daniel Barenboim, Kurt Masur, Yehudi Menuhin, Christian Thielemann, and many others.

In his film For Elise: Beethoven's Bestseller, included as part of our digital film series LUDWIG VAN, Fuhrmann describes the triumphal procession of this famous piano piece by Beethoven. Richard Clayderman brought the piece into the charts as a "pop hit", Roman Polanski used it as a film score, and the musical comedian Hans Liberg makes fun of it.

Image: © DokFabrik