Jacqueline du Pré: Genius and Tragedy

The story of the enigmatic cellist, introduced and narrated by Yo-Yo Ma.

Those who know, consider Jacqueline du Pré one of the greatest cellists of all time – certainly in the top three - despite a career that was cruelly curtailed by multiple sclerosis when she was just twenty-eight years old. Introduced and narrated by grammy-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Jacqueline du Pré: Genius and Tragedy, tells the story of who she was and why she was such an extraordinary musician.

It is full of candid moments off-stage and in rehearsal, together with powerful concert performances. Du Pré was a blithe spirit, known to her friends as ‘Smiley’ but, on stage with her cello, she possessed an intensity that communicated the most profound feelings rooted in the depths of great music. Described as “beyond words”, du Pré’s innate abilities confounded even her fellow musicians, who struggled to rationalise how music flowed so naturally from her. The film’s charismatic cast of interviewees provide an incomparable insight into why the affection for Jacqueline du Pré and the wonder at her playing remains undiminished, nearly forty years after her death in 1987.

© Allegro Films

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Genre Documentary
Duration 86'
Production Company Allegro Films
TV Director Christopher Nupen, Matthew Percival
Video format HD