While the whole world thinks that Eu­rope ends at Perm, Greek con­ductor Teodor Currentzis starts a classical mu­sic rev­olution togeth­er with his or­chestra Mu­sicAeterna in the Ural footh­ills, a fast chang­ing for­mer indus­trial city now be­ing one of the major cultur­al centres of Russia. The film accompa­nies a new opera record­ing of “Don Giovanni” in studio-like con­ditions, traces artis­tic processes and portrays the mav­erick super-star con­ductor.

Since 2011, Teodor Currentzis is the Artis­tic Di­rector of the Perm State Opera and Bal­let The­atre. Perm is a megacity located 1100km north­east of Moscow at the west­ern footh­ills of the Ural Mountain range.

Until 1990, Perm was a closed city to for­eigners as well as to non-res­idents to a great ex­tent, be­ing the centre of the So­viet arma­ments indus­try. Here of all places, Currentzis finds the ide­al con­ditions for his mu­sical vi­sions: an opera house from the 19th Centu­ry suf­ficient time and financial support for his uncompro­mis­ing productions, and the ven­turesome, self-con­tained or­chestra Mu­sicAeterna, founded by Currentzis in 2004 in Novosibirsk. He ex­celled re­cently with the record­ing of Mozart’s Da Ponte Cycle. In 2014, his “Le nozze di Figaro” record­ing earned him an Echo Klassik, Germany’s major classical mu­sic award, for the opera record­ing of the year.

Extensive inter­views with Teodor Currentzis, soloists and mu­sicians of the en­semble offer a quite person­al approach and exemplify the production process. On the back of this mu­sic journalists will at­tempt to classify the phe­nom­ena “Currentzis”. The cam­era work cap­tures the unique atmo­sphere of Perm where relics of the tsar era meet the aes­thet­ics of the Soviet Union. The film team also accompa­nies the or­chestra on their concert tour: the opera cycle will be giv­en in Dortmund - Germany.

“Currentzis. The Classical Rebel” combines both high standards of filmmaking and a pleas­antly intrigu­ing approach to the world of classical mu­sic with an fas­cinating artist, peeks behind the scenes and time­lessly beautiful mu­sic