Visit Your Local PBS Station PBS Home PBS Home Programs A-Z TV Schedules Support PBS Shop PBS Search PBS
Independent Lens
Search Indie Lens

About Program Guide Video Get Involved Classroom Your Lens Inside Indies


EROICA!

The Film

“Rarely does one hear such a combination of sheer physicality, gripping intensity and idiomatic versatility as this threesome served up.”
 — The Tucson Citizen

“Just as...in their successful Carnegie Hall debut and smash-hit CD release, these women demonstrate that on musical merits, they have earned their foothold on the very highest rung of the profession.” 
—The Wall Street Journal

Playing with exuberance, intensity and skill, the Eroica Trio is changing the face of classical music. Violinist Adela Peña, pianist Erika Nickrenz and cellist Sara Sant'Ambrogio give more than 100 performances a year, ranging from large-scale symphonies in packed concert halls around the world to educational lectures in local middle school auditoriums.

EROICA! follows these Grammy-nominated, New York-based musicians through one eventful year, 2000 to 2001. In search of a new symphony to play in addition to its signature piece and namesake, Beethoven’s Eroica, the Trio commissions composer Kevin Kaska to write a tailor-made triple concerto. Timelines are created, rehearsals are slated and a premiere performance is scheduled: November 9, with the St. Louis Symphony.

But as this deadline grows closer and personality conflicts clash with creative processes, the stakes become increasingly higher. Will Kaska deliver the final movement in time and will the piece survive frantic, last minute changes? And in the midst of upheavals regarding family, friendships and post-9/11 New York City, will the show go on?

EROICA! offers a suspenseful look at collaborating artistically with close friends as well as a glimpse into the solitary, stressful world of the classical music composer. Friends since they were young prodigies at music camps and then as students at Juilliard, the women of the Trio juggle a demanding international tour schedule while handling music, marriage and motherhood. What binds them together are their fiercely loyal friendships and uncompromising work ethics.

Tracking the tensions involved in the everyday lives of the Trio, Director Alan Miller tells the story of the first all-female chamber ensemble to reach the top of its field – not only through breaking gender barriers and redefining genres but by playing the music it loves.

UPDATE: Since the making of the movie EROICA!, the Eroica Trio has finished recording its sixth CD, The Beethoven Triple Concerto. The piece was recorded in Prague with no conductor.

The trio has also toured extensively in Australia and the U.S.

Sara, Adela and Ericka looking at music while rehearsing

Erika holds her baby in her lap

Adela gives her baby a bottle

Photos:
top: L-R: Sara Sant'Ambrogio, Adela Peña and Erika Nickrenz in rehearsal
middle: Erika and baby
bottom: Adela and baby
top


Home | The Film | Behind-the-Scenes | The Trio | Learn More | Talkback


IL Home Home | About | Program Guide | Video | Get Involved | Classroom | Your Lens | Inside IndiesContact Us Get the Newsletter
Pressroom     © Independent Television Service (ITVS). All rights reserved. | PBS Privacy Policy | Credits

Get The Video Talkback Learn More The Trio Behind-the-Scenes Eroica!