Toni and Rosi Grunschlag were piano prodigies in Vienna in the 1920s. In this documentary made over ten years, they tell their story - of the German takeover of Austria; being pushed out of their apartment by a local Nazi - “He came with his concubine. They had a German shepherd dog and I can tell you he was the nicest of them” – of escaping the Nazis together, fleeing to England and then the United States, where they forged a career as a two piano team. Neither married, so they practised, performed and lived together for 80 years. There were suitors, says Rosi, “But you have to be strong.”

In the apartment building in New York where they have lived since 1943 and in their summer house they play and show how music saved them, inspired them, bound them together, was their living. Rosi has advice for the young: “When you have to run for your life, you leave everything behind. But your education is yours to keep. It is your transportable asset.”

It is an inspirational story of two talented, determined and funny women.

Broadcast on BBC U.K, January 2012

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Reviews

“A moving portrait… deeply affecting”
- Time Out

“Will stay with me a long time… the film was so well made and the sisters such large personalities that you couldn’t help but keep watching”
- The Telegraph

“Warm record of two remarkable lives”
- The Sunday Times