As part of the St. Louis Bach Festival 2019, this unique program features a screening of Ingmar Bergman's "Autumn Sonata"; an accompanying musical performance by pianist Sandra Geary, cellist Ken Kulosa, and flutist Catherine Edwards; and an introduction and post-film discussion by Eddie Silva, communications specialist at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and former Riverfront Times arts editor and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra publications manager.

"Autumn Sonata" (Sweden, 1978, 99 min., in Swedish with English subtitles) was the only collaboration between cinema’s two great Bergmans: Ingmar, director of such masterworks as “Persona” and “Cries and Whispers,” and Ingrid, the monumental star of “Casablanca.” The grande dame, playing an icy concert pianist, is matched beat for beat in ferocity by Liv Ullmann, the filmmaker’s recurring lead, who co-stars as her eldest daughter. Over the course of a day and a long, painful night that the two spend together after an extended separation, they finally confront the bitter discord of their relationship. This cathartic pas de deux, evocatively shot in burnished harvest colors by the great Sven Nykvist, ranks among the director’s major dramatic works.

Classical music figures prominently in the film, including selections from Chopin and Handel; Bach, whose music is used in many of Bergman’s films, is represented by Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010: IV. Sarabande.

Presented in collaboration with the Bach Society of St. Louis and Webster University Film Series.