For over four years, we have planned to spend a number of days shooting “talking head” interviews with the leading Liszt scholars in Europe. Thanks to the annual meeting of the American Liszt Society (ALS), many of these scholars were clustered in Athens, Georgia a few weeks ago for the annual ALS meeting, February 16-20, 2011. The interviews will be incorporated into the documentary to enliven and heighten topics being presented.
Most often, I interviewed our guests. However, Betty interviewed the most interesting person attending the ALS conference. Dr. Gabriella Wolz is a Hungarian research biologist who plans her vacations around the annual meetings of the American Liszt Society and has been a regular attendee for over ten years. Though not a performer or scholar, she had both personal and musical insights about why people in general–and Hungarians, in particular–are rabid about the music and life of Franz Liszt. Her interview emphasizes the effect Liszt has on the devotion of his present-day countrymen and women.
Not seen in the photo is the cameraman and film’s director, Ken Kebow. In the spring of 2011, we are planning a trip with Ken to the east coast to interview scholars in New York City and at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Shooting interviews is grueling but imaginative work. You spend an hour or more talking with someone who is very excited about their research on Liszt to eventually wind up with 20 to 30 seconds of “useable” material.