Ensemble Modern

With the help of more than 10,000 dedicated Zappa fans, this is the long-awaited definitive documentary project of Alex Winter documenting the life and career of enigmatic groundbreaking rock star Frank Zappa. Alex also utilizes in this picture thousands of hours of painstakingly digitized videos, photos, audio, writing, and everything in between from Zappa's private archives. These chronicles have never been brought to a public audience before, until now.

Utilizing potent TV interviews and many forgotten performances from his 30-year career, we are immersed into Frank Zappa’s world while experiencing two distinct facets of his complex character. At once Zappa was both a charismatic composer who reveled in the joy of performing and, in the next moment, a fiercely intelligent and brutally honest interviewee whose convictions only got stronger as his career ascended.

Blood On The Floor is a captivating musical experience that blends jazz, classical, and modern music genres. Composed by the renowned British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, this performance features the exceptional talents of soloists John Scofield on guitar and Peter Erskine on drums, alongside the London Sinfonietta. The work explores themes of addiction, chaos, and redemption, offering a raw and emotional journey through its innovative soundscape.

The documentary examines Frank Zappa and his music through archive footage, including unique video excerpts from Austrian television archives featuring interviews with Zappa and backstage scenes from the 1970s and 1980s. The entire film is divided into chapters discussing the most important themes in Zappa's life and work.

This live recording was culled from seven September 1992 concerts given in Vienna, Berlin, and Frankfurt by the Ensemble Modern, a Frankfurt-based chamber orchestra that performs only contemporary music. Composed and conducted by Frank Zappa.

Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto, backed by Ensemble Modern and a live "visual score", perform their fourth collaborative work "utp_" at the National Theatre in Mannheim, Germany on November 16, 2007.