10 Classical Music Films/TV Series on Netflix & Prime
Stay wrapped up and watch 10 movies and TV series themed around classical music. Send us your recommendations @alterclassical on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, and let us know how you find these as we’re still making our way through them. If you enjoy our content - cool! Please consider supporting us on Ko-fi, where anyone who feels like it can bung us a few quid with no strings attached. Thank you.
Falling for Figaro (2021)
6.3/10 IMDb, 70% Rotten Tomatoes
Film (Netflix)
A brilliant young fund manager leaves her unfulfilling job and long-term boyfriend to chase her lifelong dream of becoming an opera singer. She meets a fellow opera student while in training, and what begins as a rivalry develops into something more. Featuring Joanna Lumley, Danielle Macdonald and Hugh Skinner.
Mozart in the Jungle (2014-2018)
8.2/10 IMDb, 94% Rotten Tomatoes
TV series (Amazon Prime)
Sex and the City meets Game of Thrones in this comedic drama intertwining love, money, ambition and music. A brash new conductor, Rodrigo, stirs up the New York Symphony as young oboist Hailey hopes for her big chance.
The Pianist (2002)
8.5/10 IMDb, 95% Rotten Tomatoes
Film (Amazon Prime & Netflix)
The heart-wrenching story of a Jewish musician who struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II, based on an autobiographical memoir. The main character, Adrien Brody (who won an Academy Award for his performance), learned how to play the piano for his role, practising four hours a day until he could master passages from some of Chopin’s works.
Unorthodox (2020)
8.1/10 IMDb, 94% Rotten Tomatoes
TV mini-series (Netflix)
The emotional story of a young Orthodox Jewish woman who flees her arranged marriage and religious community to start a new life abroad, based on Deborah Feldman’s 2012 memoir. Keeping this vague so as not to give away spoilers, but part of the story is set in a music conservatoire.
Nocturne (2020)
5.7 IMDb
Film (Amazon Prime)
An American supernatural horror film by Amazon Studios. Inside the halls of an elite arts academy, a timid music student begins to outshine her more accomplished and outgoing twin sister when she discovers a mysterious notebook belonging to a recently deceased classmate.
Do You Like Brahms? (2020)
7.7/10 IMDb
TV series (Netflix)
A South Korean romantic drama television series about the dreams and love of classical music students who find their own happiness while learning music. In defiance of her family's opposition, Chae Song Ah gets accepted into the music school of the same university to study the violin, where she originally majored in business. As she's seven years older than her classmates, she finds her new academic life daunting and struggles to find strength. While struggling to find her footing, she falls for a successful pianist with a lonely soul.
7.5/10 IMDb, 90% Rotten Tomatoes
Film (Netflix)
The Piano is a period drama film written and directed by Jane Campion. It tells the story of a mute Scottish woman in the mid-19th century, who is sent to a remote part of New Zealand with her young daughter and prized piano, for an arranged marriage. They are left with all their belongings, including a piano, on a New Zealand beach. Making little attempt to warm up to her husband, Ada soon becomes intrigued by his Maori-friendly acquaintance, leading to tense, life-altering conflicts.
La bohème (2017)
Film (Netflix)
This passionate production of Puccini's opera follows a group of young artists navigating life, love, and personal obstacles in 19th-century Paris, starring Michael Fabiano, Nicole Car and Mariusz Kwiecien.
Forest of Piano (2018)
7.2/10 IMDb
TV series (Netflix)
Young Kai Ichinose lives in the red light district but sneaks away at night to play a piano in the forest. Shuhei Amamiya is the son of a professional pianist who transfers to Kai's elementary school, where he is bullied by classmates. When Shuhei is dared to play the mysterious piano in the forest he meets Kai, who is seemingly the only person who is capable of getting sound out of the thought-to-be-broken instrument. Kai's ability earns him the respect of Shuhei and his music teacher -- a former master pianist -- who try to convince Kai to take piano lessons, which he resists.
The Nutcracker
Film (Netflix)
The timeless holiday spectacle about a girl who’s swept into a fantasy world when her Christmas present comes to life, as performed by the Royal Ballet, starring Gary Avis, Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé.
Hannah Fiddy is a creative entrepreneur, developing new audiences for classical music. She has created and promoted numerous concerts outside of traditional spaces, including warehouses, pubs, clubs, museums, hospitals, prisons and even in Primark. Hannah is also an interviewer, writer and guest lecturer, and runs the Avon Chamber Choir in Bristol. In a past life she founded London Flashmob, producing quirky events from wedding proposals to cultural pranks for up to 1,000 people.
Follow Hannah on Twitter @Hannah_Fiddy.