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PETER ROSEN — PRODUCER/DIRECTOR
Peter Rosen Productions, Inc.
9 East 78th Street
New York, New York 10021
212 535-8927

fax 517-5337

rosenprod@aol.com
www.peterrosenproductions.com


Peter Rosen has produced and directed over 100 full-length films and television programs which have been distributed world-wide and have won awards at the major film festivals. He has worked directly with some of the most important figures in the arts such as Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma, Beverly Sills, Sherrill Milnes, Stephen Sondheim, Alexander Godunov, Midori, Leonard Slatkin, Martha Graham, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Van Cliburn, Skitch Henderson, Claudio Arrau, I. M. Pei, and Garrison Keillor.

He won the prestigious Directors Guild of America Award for his production "Here to Make Music: The Eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition." This Award is given to only one documentary program a year. The show also won a national prime-time Emmy Award and was called "enriching and inspiring" by the New York Daily News. He was again nominated for the DGA Award for his film, “First Person Singular: I. M. Pei”. He won the Peabody Award for "Playing on the Edge: The Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition".

In production for broadcast in 2008 are several exciting new projects. "Garrison Keillor" (wt) is a feature-length documentary that will follow the popular radio host of "Prairie Home Companion" as he tours America and comments on the people and country he knows so well. This will be an ITVS presentation broadcast on PBS American Masters. "Shadows in Paradise" is a film about the German and Austrian composers and writers who fled Hitler and ended up in Hollywood California. Commissioned by and broadcast on ARTE. "Gordon Getty" (wt) is a portrait of the respected contemporary composer who also happens to be the son of one of the richest men in the world, J. Paul Getty.

Broadcast and released in 2006 were “In the Key of G: The Gilmore International Keyboard Festival” for PBS, which follows young pianists through one of the world’s most prestigious piano festivals. “Who Gets to Call it Art?” is a feature length documentary now in theatres on curator Henry Geldzahler, who was instrumental in founding the pop art movement of the 1960’s. "Master of the House" is a short film broadcast on PBS as part of the Metropolitan Opera's Tribute to Joseph Volpe.

Broadcast in 2005, “A Workshop for Peace” is an hour long documentary commissioned by the United Nations on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the U.N. Also scheduled in 2005, PBS presented “Great Conversations in Music”. Commissioned by the Library of Congress, this four part series features the world’s best pianists, string players, composers, and conductors in conversation with the late host/pianist Eugene Istomin. Presented on PBS through WETA. "Crossing the Bridge of Faiths" a concert tribute to the life of Pope John Paul II was presented on PBS through WQED-Pittsburgh.

In 2004, PBS through WQED-Pittsburgh, aired "A Celebration of Faiths", the Papal concert for reconciliation. Videotaped as a co-production with RAI – Italian Television this Easter Special featured the Mahler 2nd Sympony with choruses of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Also in 2004, PBS will present
"Great Conversations in Music: The Green Room". Commissioned by the Library of Congress, this four part series features the world’s best pianists, string players, composers, and conductors in conversation with the late host/pianist Eugene Istomin. Presented on PBS through WETA. "Finding Eleazar", is a feature documentary on tenor Neil Shicoff’s preparations for the opera "La Juive". Selected in competition for the Tribeca Film Festival. 

In the 2003-2004 television season, Peter Rosen produced and directed the feature-length documentary
"Khachaturian" on the Russian/Armenian composer on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Shown in theatres and on television world-wide. This film won the Best Documentary Award at the Hollywood Film Festival.

For broadcast in 2001-2002, Peter Rosen produced and directed "The Hollywood Bowl: Music Under the Stars" as a co-production with WDR German Television for KCET/PBS in Los Angeles. Also, "A Thousand Years of Music and Spirit", taped in Krakow with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir under Maestro Gilbert Levine airing  on PBS through WTTW for Easter and Christmas, "Six Short Operas” with the Eos Orchestra, "Hollywood Loves the Piano", a history of the use of the piano and pianists during the Golden Age of Hollywood films co-produced for WDR German Television, and "The Cliburn; Playing on the Edge",  with KERA/PBS, sponsored by ExxonMobil. This film on the 11th Van Cliburn Piano Competition won the prestigious Peabody Award.  A six part series developed from the performances during the Competition, "Concerto", aired on PBS throughout 2002-2003, hosted by conductor James Conlon.

For the 1999-2000 television season he produced the first fully staged version of the Handel "Messiah", has completed and hour long documentary on American composer Leroy Anderson, "Once Upon A Sleigh Ride", featuring performances conducted by Skitch Henderson, John Williams and Keith Lockhart which aired on PBS.

The 1998 television season presented two recent programs produced and directed by Peter Rosen. "Enrico Caruso: Voice of the Century" was broadcast in October, 1998 on the A&E Biography series. "The Museum on the Mountain", on I. M. Pei's new Miho Museum in Kyoto, Japan, was also broadcast in October on Ovation — The Arts Network. This program won the Gold Medal at the 1998 New York Film and Television Festival.

The 1997 television season included his production "First Person Singular: I. M. Pei", which was filmed throughout the world for PBS.  The program was nominated for the DGA Award of 1997, and was given "***½" by the New York Daily News.

For 1996, A&E broadcast "Papazian Live," a concert Peter Rosen directed live from Carnegie Hall, which was one of A&E's highest rated shows.

The 1995 television season presented his program "Van Cliburn, Concert Pianist" on A&E's Biography series, and "Encore!," an 8-part music series on PBS.

The 1994 television season presented several programs produced and directed by Peter Rosen.  These include "The Golden Age of the Piano," which won the Emmy for Best Cultural Program, made for Philips Classics Productions; "Midori Live at Carnegie Hall," for Sony Music, which aired on A&E; "If I Were A Rich Man," a portrait of Jan Peerce; and "Playing for Peace," a 60 minute documentary about the Middle East Peace Tour of the Apple Hill Chamber Players to Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria, which aired nationally on PBS.

Peter Rosen's earlier productions included a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Carnegie Hall entitled: "Carnegie Hall at 100: A Place of Dreams," which aired on PBS and was called "the perfect valentine" by The New York Times, the 200th anniversary portrait of the New York Stock Exchange, and "A Life in Music: The Ninth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition" for PBS.

Additional programs in the performing arts include "A Musical Offering from the Vatican", for PBS; "Dewar's Profiles Performing Arts Awards" which was televised on Bravo; the complete five-part series on the pianist Claudio Arrau which was broadcast on PBS including "Arrau & Muti & Beethoven," which USA Today called "a Public Television classic"; "Toscanini: The Maestro," which was a "Great Performances" presentation in 1988; "Rubinstein Remembered," a 100th birthday celebration of the life of the pianist Arthur Rubinstein hosted by his son John Rubinstein and shot in Poland for "American Masters," which The New York Times called "the kind of program that makes you feel good about television"; a portrait of ballet star Alexander Godunov, "Godunov: The World to Dance In" (PBS 1985, Metromedia 1986), which the Daily News called "a stunning, compelling docu-drama"; "Reflections: Leonard Bernstein," for the BBC; and "Omnibus," for ABC in 1986.

From 1983–85, Peter Rosen produced many of the arts stories for the expanded "MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour." Three of these stories were nominated for national Emmys in the News and Documentary Awards.


Peter Rosen has also produced and directed three children's programs for CBS.  "A Little Like Magic" (1985) was about a group of handicapped children who make it to Broadway performing in their own hit musical. Hosted by Ann-Margret, this show won a local NYC Emmy. In 1986, Peter Rosen produced and directed "America Is" for CBS on the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. This program also won the local Emmy for best children's program. In 1988, he produced and directed "Starlight, Starbright," a program based on the Starlight Foundation which grants wishes to terminally or chronically ill children, hosted by Emma Samms.


His documentary on learning disabilities, "How Difficult Can This Be," has been one of the best-sellers at PBS Video since 1989.


Education
B. Architecture, Cornell University
BFA, MFA, Yale University
Fellow, Trumbull College, Yale University
Instructor, Department of Art, Yale University
Lecturer, New York University

Boards and Memberships
Board of Directors, Famous People Players, Canada
International Music Center, Vienna, Austria

Awards Committees
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
International Emmy Awards
Directors Guild of America Awards

 



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