1975 Lothar Thorand, a talented young violinist and friend of the Munich composers Guntram Pauli, Christian Kabitz and Klaus Haimerl, dies unexpectedly of a viral infection. The three friends decide to write a requiem for Lothar in a new form, thus realizing their long- cherished dream of creating a crossover work between sacred classical and rock music.

1978 Guntram Pauli, Chistian Kabitz and Klaus Haimerl. Almost three years passed before it was realized. Then, on November 12, the time had come: Munich experienced the acclaimed premiere of the work, which the authors called "requiem '78" at the time. 1981 A series of concerts throughout Germany is followed by the production of the double LP of the same name. The venture turned into a balancing act without a safety net, as the album was pre-financed with the help of friends and then sold exclusively through concerts and word of mouth. It seems too risky for the major companies to include a record so far removed from the main stream in their program. But the critics put the opus in the same league as legendary crossover works by Jon Lord, Procol Harum or Alan Parsons. The radio broadcast several 90-minute reviews of the album and the success of the concert series between 1981 and 1985 was overwhelming. Well over a hundred thousand visitors experienced the spectacular live productions - the ROCK REQUIEM became a cult event. 1988 Pauli, Kabitz and ROCK REQUIEM flutist Martin Schuster present the follow-up opus COSMOGENIA. Once again a bridge between sacred classical music on the one hand and rock/pop/jazz on the other. The CD production features world-renowned musicians such as Brian Auger, Klaus Kreuzeder and soloists from the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

2007 A dream comes true! The successful "rebirth" of Opus encourages the composers to finally realize an idea that had been lying dormant in a drawer for around 25 years - the film version of the work. In the search for production possibilities, they came across the Ukrainian city of Lviv (formerly Lemberg) with its incredibly rich musical life. There, and later also for some sequences in Germany, the work was finally captured on film. The result is a truly extraordinary video production - not a pure concert film, but an exciting mix of image and film feeds, distortions, scenic passages and animations.