Allan Miller

The New York Times has called Allan Miller "America's foremost filmmaker of documentaries on classical music."

Allan Miller has produced and directed over 35 films and television programs around the world, documenting some of the most important musical events of the last three decades. He won an Academy Award for best Feature Length Documentary for his 1979 film FROM MAO TO MOZART - Isaac Stern in China, and in 1975 for THE BOLERO, best short feature, with Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. SMALL WONDERS, the story of a violin program in the public schools of East Harlem, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1996.

Miller won a national Emmy Award in 1999 in the Classical Music and Dance category for his film ITZHAK PERLMAN - Fiddling for the Future, for PBS. In 1999 he completed THE TURANDOT PROJECT, a feature length documenting the collaboration by conductor Zubin Mehta and Chinese film director, Zhang Yimou, in the staging of the Puccini opera in Florence and outdoors in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Other award winning films include MEMORIES OF EUBIE, with Eubie Blake; A HUNGRY FEELING - The Life and Death of Brendan Behan; HIGH FIDELITY – The Adventures of the Guarneri String Quartet; I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY AND I AM SAYING IT - JOHN CAGE; and NOVEMBER'S CHILDREN - Revolution in Prague;

Since 1996, Miller has also directed MUSIC FOR THE MOVIES, the film scores of Chinese Composer Zhao Jiping; and BOWING OUT - Robert Mann's Last Concert with the Juilliard Quartet, for BRAVO. MUSICAL ENCOUNTERS, a celebration in Beijing of the 20th anniversary of the making of FROM MAO TO MOZART, was completed in 1999.

In 2001 Miller directed IN SEARCH OF CEZANNE, a docudrama, and BOATS LIKE SAILS, in which the camera observes the creation of a painting by renowned American painter Paul Resika, from blank canvas to completion. He completed PERLMAN IN SHANGHAI, a film of Itzhak Perlman's visit to Shanghai with 30 of his students in August, 2002. He met with students from the Shanghai Conservatory, giving lessons, coaching chamber music, and forming an orchestra. Miller directed and edited a 7-part international series of Master Classes conducted by Daniel Barenboim, featuring pianists Lang Lang, Jonathan Biss, Shai Wosner, and others, working on movements from the Beethoven piano sonatas. The series will include excerpts from Maestro Barenboim's performances of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas in Berlin, 2005. He has just completed HOUSE OF LIFE: THE OLD JEWISH CEMETERY IN PRAGUE with artist Mark Podwal.

After graduating from Harvard with a B.A. and an M.A. in Music, Mr. Miller studied conducting in Europe with Hermann Scherchen. He was the founder of The Late Late Concerts at Lincoln Center, Educational Conductor for the Baltimore Symphony, Associate Conductor of the Denver Symphony, and guest conductor of several orchestras in the U.S. Mr. Miller is also Co-Founder of SYMPHONY SPACE, a Performing Arts Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City.

 


Allan Miller
Photo: Karel Cudlin