A backwater Iowa town is in ethical turmoil after the sexual assult of a teenage girl and murder trial.
Maxim Gorky’s drama about social unrest in prerevolutionary Russia, performed by members of the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center and directed by Ellis Rabb. With Peter Donat, Frances Sternhagen, Carrie Nye, Kate Reid, Susan Sharkey, and Mr. Rabb.
The 1929 comedy by George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner. Marks the acting debut of the composer Stephen Sondheim. Also features Jack Cassidy, Estelle Parsons, and Kevin McCarthy. Bert Shevelove directs.
Joseph Wiseman stars in Elie Wiesel's drama set in post-Stalinist Russia. (THEATER IN AMERICA)
This quintessential Chekhov drama--his first success--is both comic and tragic. A group of friends and relations gather at a country estate to see the first performance of an experimental play written and staged by the young man of the house, Konstantin (Frank Langella), an aspiring writer who dreams of bringing new forms to the theatre.
The main characters are an impulsive young woman, Silvia Gala (Joan Van Ark), the lover she exasperates (David Dukes) and her cynical, sneering spouse, Leone (John McMartin). The husband's apathetic attitude is that life is a game played by arbitrary rules, and his role is that of an unemotional observer. His philosophy is severely put to the test when his wife draws him into a duel with a nobleman who drunkenly accosted her.
William Saroyan's Pulitzer Prize-winning play revolves around the denizens of a San Francisco bar in 1939. Lonely, lovelorn, weary or cynical, the characters drift in and out of the bar and each other's lives, giving voice to Saroyan's philosophies as they randomly comment about the impending world war, the beauty of art, and traditional notions of good and evil. At least one of the relationships stands a chance of enduring: a brawny innocent named Tom is falling in love with a vulnerable young prostitute named Kitty. Saroyan himself is heard reciting the play's prologue.
The Prince of Homburg, a general in the army of the Brandenburg Elector, sometimes has difficulty separating his dreams from reality. He falls in love with the Princess Natalia, ward of the Elector, and as a result of his infatuation does not pay close attention to the orders for the next day's battle. As a result, he precipitously engages the enemy before being ordered to do so, and thus both helps win the battle but also brings down on his own head the charge of disobedience to orders. When a court-martial orders his death, everyone involved, including the Prince himself, comes to mixed opinion about whether the sentence should be carried out.
A writer (made to resemble Russian playwright Anton Chekhov) narrates a collection of his stories, all of which are written in the style of Chekhov.
A performance of the Harold Pinter play finds confusion about a possible affair between Bill (Malcolm McDowell) and Stella (Helen Mirren) which leaves Bill’s partner Harry (Laurence Olivier) and Stella’s husband James (Alan Bates) wondering what really happened.
A production of the Broadway musical, adapted from a Hungarian play, about a young man and a young woman who are co-workers and constantly at odds. Each has a secret life with a private love affair carried on through a lonely hearts column, only to discover that they already know each other.
A musical celebration of the joy and survival of black music, song and poetry since the days of America's Civil War. Includes the poetry of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and many others.
From the elaborate Broadway revival of the 1932 Eva Le Gallienne/Florida Friebus production comes a whimsical retelling of the Lewis Carroll classic.
Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst star in “You Can't Take It with You,” Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's satire of the work ethic, which follows the loves and lives of the eccentric Sycamore family. Kolenkov: George Rose. Penny: Elizabeth Wilson. Paul: Jack Dodson. Alice: Maureen Anderman.
Judy Garland's daughter Lorna Luft hosts a retrospective of performances by the legendary singer, mostly drawn from episodes of her 1963 CBS TV series
A renowned collaboration between experimental theater director Lee Breuer and composer Bob Telson, THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS retells Sophocles' classical tragedy Oedipus at Colonus through the medium of modern gospel. This filmed version of the much-lauded 1985 Philadelphia performance traces the epic storyline of the original text, while also interweaving aspects of Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and the Christian salvific narrative. Taking up the dramatic tension and emotional turmoil of classical tragedy and infusing it with passionate, inventive performances and an electrifying gospel and soul inflected musical montage, the production also features an unforgettable cast, including Javetta Steele, Isabell Monk, Robert Earl Jones, Carl Lumbly, Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama (who collectively play Oedipus), and, as the Messenger (and here Pentecostal preacher), Morgan Freeman. Freeman's commanding oratory to a rapt live audience recasts classical rhetoric in an African-American gospel mode, impressively fusing Hellenistic myth and Christian parable.
The incomparable Stephen Sondheim brought his sensational "Follies" to the stage in 1971 where it was hailed as "monumental theater" by The New York Times.
Jake, a successful journalist, has difficulties living up to the expectations of his family. He struggles to re-define his life as he attempts to cope unsuccessfully with his troubled wife, his demanding child, his parents, and his sister at a family reunion. A re-staging of the 1981 Broadway play by Jules Feiffer, first aired 25 November 1985 under the "Broadway on Showtime" banner.
Hosted by Johnny Carson. A retrospective on the life and career of actor James Stewart, with clips from many of his films and interviews with people who have worked with him.
Aegeon of Syracuse has come to Ephesus to seek his son, who went in search of his missing twin and mother months ago. Too bad that Ephesus has just declared war on Syracuse, and will instantly put to death any Syracusean found within their borders unless a ransom's paid. Meanwhile, the son, Antipholus, and his servant, Dromio (also an identical twin), keep running into strangers who seem to know them...
A Hollywood actress who worries that the movie world is eroding her grip on reality is drawn into a love affair with an ordinary - and married - guy.
Narrated by Lauren Bacall, this documentary focuses on the life and career of her late husband Humphrey Bogart. The program includes film clips and outtakes, interviews with Bogart's costars, directors and friends, and footage from Bogart and Bacall's home movies. "Bacall on Bogart" was nominated for a 1988 Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Informational Special.
In this modern adaptation of the Don Quixote theme based on a novel by Graham Greene, Quixote is an old Spanish village priest who travels through Spain with his friend, Sancho, the village's mayor and his car called Rocinante. On their way he has to master the same adventures as his ancestor.
A documentary profiling the fascinating Richard Burton: In from the Cold.
A documentary on Millicent Hodson's and Kenneth Archer's attempts to recreate the original choreography by Vasclav Nijinsky and original sets and costumes by Nicholas Roerich for the original production in 1913 of Igor Stravinsky's ballet, The rite of spring. The full reconstructed ballet, Sacre du printemps = The rite of spring : pictures of pagan Russia in two acts (Joffrey Ballet ; Orchestra of the National Theatre, Prague ; Allan Lewis, conductor) follows the documentary.
An ill tailor is trying to finish a coat for a wealthy man. He is hindered by his cat and helped by some grateful mice.
The Colored Museum is a play written by George C. Wolfe that premiered in 1986, directed by L. Kenneth Richardson. In a series of 11 “exhibits” (sketches), the review explores and satirizes prominent themes and identities of African-American culture. "George C. Wolfe says the unthinkable, says it with uncompromising wit and leaves the audience, as well as sacred target, in ruins. The devastated audience, one should note, includes both Blacks and Whites. Mr. Wolfe is the kind of satirist, almost unheard of in today's timid theater, who takes no prisoners." – Frank Rich, The New York Times, 1986
Arguably Shakespeare's and theatre's greatest work, the tragedy of Hamlet's quest to admonish his uncle and seek revenge for his father's murder remains a breathless, tense and endlessly rich tale that continues to enthrall and inspire. With television director Kirk Browning, Kevin Kline adapts, directs and stars in this indelible production of Shakespeare's most famous play with a daring and depth few of his American contemporaries seem prepared to match.
Audrey Hepburn hosts this loving look back at Fred Astaire and the composers who wrote legendary songs for him.
Life and work of American composer Richard Rodgers, whose work, in collaboration with Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, and others, gave the world dozens of the greatest musical theater successes. motion picture soundtracks and songs of the 20th century. Interviews with family and friends, artists who worked with him, home movies. Excerpts from many film and television productions featuring his work, including "Oklahoma!', "South Pacific", "The Sound of Music", "The King and I", "Carousel", "Pal Joey", "Cinderella", "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum", "Love Me Tonight", "I Married an Angel", "Babes in Arms".
A program of traditional Native American dances encompassing a diverse range of sacred, seasonal, and celebratory Indian movement and music. Company members talk about their art and its special role in Indian life in segments taped at an intertribal powwow in Oklahoma and at the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Performed by the American Indian Dance Theater, a two-year-old company of Native American dancers from more than a dozen tribes.
Lawrence and Feisal go to argue for Arab independence at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.
A behind-the-scenes look at the cast-album recording session of the 1992 Tony-winning Broadway revival of the Frank Loesser musical.
The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.
A tribute from Carnegie Hall to composer Stephen Sondheim by Hollywood and Broadway performers.
A collection of ballet music and arias from several Handel operas, loosely hung around the plot of Handel's Alcina.
The Carnegie Hall gala was part of the 50th birthday party last month for Verve Records, the jazz label founded by music innovator Norman Granz that helped chronicle the careers of such greats as Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson and Lester Young. Vanessa Williams and Herbie Hancock take turns at the podium, introing and at times performing tributes to Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Miles Davis , Count Basie, Art Tatum and Wes Montgomery. Williams, known as a pop singer, shows another sides, warbling a tasty version of “Tea for Two” at the outset. Backed by several of the genre’s most notable talents — Joe Henderson, Kenny Burrell and Ray Brown among them — Williams’ vocal chops easily cross over. Other perfs are equally classy, such as the vocals delivered by former “Wiz” star Dee Dee Bridgewater on the Fitzgerald signature nugget “Shiny Stockings.” While the effort by Betty Carter on the classic “How High the Moon” is a joy to watch, it is vocalist Abbey Lincoln who brings the house down on her reading of “I Must Have That Man.” Appearances by contemporary musicians Bruce Hornsby and Pat Metheny, in their respective tributes to their influences, is an added bonus to the black-tie event. Instrumentalists are well represented, particularly by the sax work of Henderson and the stellar guitar by Burrell on Parker’s “Now’s the Time.” Used as the closing number, the tune offered a who’s who of jazz, ending the spec on a resounding high note.
This biography, shown on American television as part of the PBS "Great Performances" series, examines the life works of one of Hollywood's most celebrated puppeteers, Jim Henson.
In celebration of the megahit musical's 10th anniversary, a dream team of Les Miz singers unites at Royal Albert Hall to perform such beloved numbers as 'I Dreamed a Dream', 'Master of the House', and 'Who Am I'. The evening, which features Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Lea Salonga as Eponine, and Philip Quast as Javert, culminates in an encore of 17 Valjeans from around the world singing 'Do You Hear the People Singing' in their native languages.
Documentary chronicling Arthur Freed and his unit's contribution to some of Hollywood's most memorable musicals.
Musicians remember the Kansas City jazz scene, paying homage to the legends of the genre.
A thorough look at the lifework of composer Burt Bacharach, complete with a great number of archive clips and new interviews.
A tribute to songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb; with Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, Lauren Bacall.
Documentary explores the creation of the musical play Ragtime, based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow.
The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra performs songs by George Gershwin. Michael Tilson Thomas is the conductor.
French ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire and her husband, choreographer Roland Petit, are featured in a documentary film.
At long last, the world's greatest musical theater blockbuster makes its world television premiere. Over 17 years, "Cats" became the longest running musical in Broadway history, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's sensational interpretation of T. S. Eliot's OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS has gone on to charm audiences around the globe. Now lavishly filmed for television with a specially augmented 76-piece orchestra, its many musical highlights include Elaine Paige returning to the role of Grizabella, the faded "glamour cat" who sings the showstopping "Memory." Also featured are Sir John Mills as Gus and Broadway cast original Ken Page as Old Deuteronomy.
Glenn Close, Antonio Banderas, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Donny Osmond, Sarah Brightman, Elaine Paige, and Michael Ball are among the stars gathered at London's Royal Albert Hall to pay tribute to the hit-making composer of such international musical blockbusters as "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Evita," "Cats," "The Phantom of the Opera," and "Sunset Boulevard." The many highlights include Banderas reprising his big-screen performance of "Oh What a Circus" from "Evita," Close's thrilling rendition of "As If We Never Said Good-bye" from "Sunset Boulevard," and Te Kanawa's debut of a new song from Lloyd Webber's much anticipated sequel to "Phantom."
Bobby Child, scion of a New York banking family (and also a talented song-and-dance man), is sent by his mother to foreclose the Gaiety Theatre in Deadrock, Nevada. Once there, however, he falls in love with the daughter of the theatre's owner, and becomes involved in a scheme to save the day by putting on a magnificent show.
This film presents highlights of a concert given on 28 September 1998 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Some of the ladies offer songs with which they have been closely associated over the years, while others explore the road not taken. There are also a couple of stunts: Rosie O'Donnell sneaks onto the stage and begins singing "Liza With a Z," only to be interrupted by Liza Minnelli, for whom the song was written. Later, the child actress Anna Kendrick sings "Life Upon the Wicked Stage," backed up by a chorus of cynical, strung-out Kit-Kat Girls from the 1990's revival of "Cabaret." Their fate, apparently, is what young Miss Kendrick can look forward to should she remain in her chosen profession!
International tenor sensation Andrea Bocelli makes a pilgrimage to the eternal city of Rome for a beautiful holiday concert, featuring works selected from the beloved Italian repertoire that has been sung by every great tenor since Caruso. From Gigli to Pavarotti, this is sacred music that not only captures the thrilling pyrotechnic vocal display of grand opera, but also reflects the deepest spiritual feelings of the world's great composers. Among the treasured arias featured are Schubert's and Gounod's "Ave Maria" and Verdi's "Ingemisco" from his "Requiem," as well as such Christmas standards as "Silent Night" and "Adeste Fideles." Accompanying Bocelli in this program is the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, one of the world's oldest musical institutions, and its chief conductor, Myung-Whun Chung.
This is a filmed record of the original production of this collection of one-act operas set in New York's Central Park, the first being Wendy Wasserstein's "Festival of Regrets," with music by Deborah Drattell, followed by "Strawberry Fields," with libretto by A. R. Gurney and music by Michael Torke. The finale, "The Food of Love," boasts a score by Robert Beaser and libretto by Terrence McNally, the man responsible, as it turns out, for the whole idea of using a shared Central Park setting, thus providing the show's one obvious unifying element. On one level, after all, these are three autonomous works, sharing neither music, plot nor characters. It is perhaps telling, however, that one crucial cast member is carried over from the opening "Festival..." to "Strawberry Fields." Moreover, all three works are clearly connected thematically. What's more, their order of appearance is just as clearly premeditated. Each one deals, in increasingly intense fashion, with the alienation, the failure, sometimes willful, to communicate or connect, which, while not unique to the urban milieu, is certainly one of the latter's more distinctive, if less fortunate, features.
An in depth behind the scenes look at the making of "The Misfits" directed by John Huston
The unhappy and unloved Prince is mocked, betrayed and rejected by everyone around him. When he decides to commit suicide by throwing himself in a lake at a city park, a beautiful Swan emerges from the water. The Prince and The Swan grow close, but their love is destined to end in tragedy.
This biography, shown on American television as part of the PBS "Great Performances" series, examines the life works of one of Hollywood's most celebrated animators, Chuck (Charles M.) Jones. He is best known for Warner Brothers cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, and Pepe LePew. Included are plenty of behind-the-scenes descriptions of how an animated film is made, and (best of all) many clips from Chuck's cartoons.
Ben Vereen and Ann Reinking head a cast of 27 dancers in “Fosse,” a musical celebration of choreography created by Bob Fosse (1927-87). Included: “Big Spender,” “I Wanna Be a Dancin' Man,” “Shoeless Joe Ballet,” “Steam Heat,” “Nowadays,” “Hot Honey Rag” and “Mr. Bojangles.” Taped in August 2001 at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre.
The Passion of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of Judas. This popular rock musical is based on the 1996 London / 2000 Broadway revivals of the show, directed by Gale Edwards. Re-orchestrated and set to modern times, it is not the Superstar of the 70's but rather one for the 21st Century
The greatest violinists of the 20th century are featured in archival footage and contemporary performances.
Josh Groban In Concert is a special package, including a DVD featuring footage from his PBS Great Performances appearance and a CD including songs not available on his self-titled debut album. It tentatively features "Broken Vow," "For Always (from the A.I. soundtrack) and his exclusive Christmas song "O Holy Night," as well as selected tracks from the live PBS special.
A documentary crew follows four leading men of American Ballet Theatre to their respective hometowns as they rehearse a newly commissioned work by choreographer Mark Morris.
A live performance of the 1999 revival, taped in London in the theatre in which it was staged, and in front of a live audience
Documentary assembling film clips of musical numbers from songwriters considered significant contributors to pop culture before the advent of rock and roll. Sparkling performances by Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Al Jolson, the teenage Dorothy Dandridge and the flash-dancing Nicholas Brothers light up this great documentary that originally aired on educational television. Using rare and never-before-seen footage, singer-pianist and musical historian Michael Feinstein hosts an informative look at the composers and lyricists who wrote America's standards from the 1890s through the mid-1950s.
Nathan Lane introduces a series of performance clips from many of the 600 programs that have been aired under the “Great Performances” banner, including such theatre stars as Bernadette Peters, Elaine Paige, Karen Ziemba, Bebe Neuwirth, Liza Minnelli, and Michael Crawford.
The golden age of the annual Tony Awards ceremony lasted from 1967 to 1986 -- the period during which 'Alexander H. Cohen' and his wife, Hildy Parks, were the producers of the show. This film offers a compilation of performances from Tony Award broadcasts during those years. They are presented with color-corrected footage and digitally re-mastered sound.
A second collection of great performances from the Tony Awards. Some of the classics of the Broadway stage have been lost to history - except for the archives of the American Theatre Wing and its collection of films of the Tony Awards ceremonies. Performances in the on-air version included "Anything Goes" from the 1987 revival of _Anything Goes_, "Bosom Buddies" from _Mame_, "I Believe in You" from the original production of _How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying_, "La Vie En Rose" from _Piaf_, "The Impossible Dream" from the original production of _Man of ...
A concert performance of Bernstein's famous musical.
In an opera version of the famous literature classic, during World War I, an airplane pilot crashes his plane in the Sahara Desert, where he has a very unusual near-death experience.
A black expatriate community forms in Paris' Montmartre district, following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
The Vienna State Opera House reopened on November 5, 1955, after being bombed during World War II. This concert, performed on November 5, 2005, in celebration of the reopening's 50th anniversary, broght together some of the world's leading opera stars and premier conductors to perform selections from the 1955 opera season.
To celebrate Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th birthday a gala concert is presented with the Vienna Philharmonic. Mozart's most memorable works are featured.
Carnegie Hall's opening night of the season features The Cleveland Orchestra performing an evening of Viennese favorites.
Various artists perform songs made famous by James Taylor, including Taylor himself. Song list: Shower The People -- The Dixie Chicks Rainy Day Man -- Bonnie Raitt Secret O'Life -- India.Arie Mexico -- Jackson Browne, David Crosby, and Sheryl Crow You Can Close Your Eyes -- Sting Everybody Has The Blues -- Dr. John and Taj Mahal Carolina In My Mind -- Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas Country Road -- Keith Urban Millworker -- Bruce Springsteen You've Got A Friend -- Carole King She A Little Light -- James Taylor How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) -- James Taylor Fire And Rain -- James Taylor
A tribute to Beverly Sills with performances by Sills and others, and clips from past performances
Garrison Keillor hosts a live New Year's Eve broadcast from Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mozart's "The Magic Flute," with Matthew Polenzani (Tamino); Nathan Gunn (Papageno); Erika Miklósa (Queen of the Night); René Pape (Sarastro); Ying Huang (Pamina); Greg Fedderly (Monostatos); and Jennifer Aylmer (Papagena). James Levine conducts.
Anna Netrebko stars in Bellini's bel canto opera "I Puritani" as a bride-to-be whose wedding day is disrupted when her betrothed (Eric Cutler) helps the condemned Queen Enrichetta (Maria Zifchak) escape from the Roundheads (Oliver Cromwell supporters during the English Civil War of the 1640s). Sir Riccardo Forth: Franco Vassallo. Sir Giorgio Walton: John Relyea. Lord Walton: Valerian Ruminski. Sir Bruno Robertson: Eduardo Valdes.
Sting and acclaimed Bosnian lute player Edin Karamazov perform songs of Elizabethan musician John Dowland.
Canadian Celtic artist Loreena McKennitt performs at Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.
Jerry Lee Lewis performs selections from his current album, "Last Man Standing." This album, released 50 years after his first album debuted, features new duet versions of his hit songs performed with a variety of singers.
Legendary pianist Daniel Barenboim performs five Beethoven sonatas.
Placido Domingo stars in “The First Emperor” as Chinese ruler Qin Shi Huang, who attempts to unify his kingdom with a national anthem penned by a childhood-friend-turned-composer (Paul Groves). Complications arise, however, when Qin's daughter Yueyang (Elizabeth Futral) seduces the songsmith. Composed by Tan Dun, who won an Oscar for his “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” score and cowrote the libretto with novelist Ha Jin. Shaman: Michelle DeYoung. Yueyang's Mother: Susanne Mentzer.
Tchaikovsky's “Eugene Onegin,” starring Renée Fleming as Tatiana, a young Russian who's rebuffed by the object of her affection, Eugene Onegin (Dmitri Hvorostovsky). Years later, after she has married a prince (Sergei Aleksashkin), the two meet again and Onegin realizes his error. Olga: Elena Zaremba. Larina: Svetlana Volkova. Lenski: Ramón Vargas.
Gioacchino Rossini's classic comic opera “The Barber of Seville” stars Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez as Count Almaviva, whose pursuit of the lovely Rosina (Joyce DiDonato) is aided by the wily barber Figaro (Peter Mattei). Standing in his way is her guardian Dr. Bartolo (John Del Carlo), who plans to marry her himself. Don Basilio: John Relyea. Fiorello: Brian Davis. Ambrogio: Rob Besserer.
April 25, 2007, would have been Ella Fitzgerald's 90th birthday. To celebrate, Great Performances has created an all-star tribute to the great jazz singer.
“Il Trittico,” Puccini's collection of three one-act operas. “Il Tabarro” concerns doomed lovers (Maria Guleghina, Salvatore Licitra); “Suor Angelica,” is about the salvation of a nun (Barbara Frittoli); “Gianni Schicchi” is a charismatic scoundrel (Alessandro Corbelli) out to steal a fortune willed to the church.
A follow-up to 2001s survey of African American dance, Free to Dance, Dancing in the Light included full performances that were not in the original series due to time restrictions.
A celebration of the Stax Records company of Memphis Tennessee with commentaries by former performers, executives and others. In it\'s heyday in the 1960s Stax recorded songs for such stars as Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs and Richard Pryor.
Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter Lionel Richie performs a concert of his famous hits and newer songs from his latest CD, Coming Home.
Recently discovered sources that were silenced in Soviet Russia now speak freely about the great dancer Rudolph Nureyev. Interviews with friends and colleagues trace his early career and his decision to defect in 1961. Includes archival footage never before seen in the West.
The Israel Philharmonic, founded in 1936 to save Jewish musicians from the eminent holocaust, celebrates it's anniversary with a concert in Tel Aviv. The orchestra is conducted by Zubin Mehta, who was given the title, "Musical Director for Life" in 1981. The program was recorded at the Frederic R. Mann Auditorium in December 2006.
Eric Clapton leads an all-star blues lineup that includes B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy; host Bill Murray.
Andrea Bocelli presents a concert from the hills of Lajatico, the rural village in Tuscany where the singer grew up. A special theater was built on the slopes just for this concert. Bocelli sings his most popular songs and welcomes some musical guests.
Renee Fleming hosts a countdown of Great Performances greatest opera moments in this special marking the 30th anniversary of Great Performances at the Met.
The L.A. Opera presents Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht. Considered by many to be one of the greatest operas of the 20th century, the piece, a lyrical satire, blends traditional opera and music hall songs. Set in the fictional "anything goes" city of Mahogonny, the original performance in 1930 Germany was disrupted by a band of Nazi Brown Shirts.
Great Performances returns to Vienna for the 24th consecutive year for the New Year's Celebration. Walter Cronkite hosts, and conductor Georges Prêtre leads the Vienna Philharmonic. Once again Strauss waltzes are featured, but Frenchman Prêtre includes some French-themed pieces. The Vienna State Opera Ballet is also fetured.
In November 2007 several artistic venues around New York City celebrated the explosion of creativity taking place in Berlin, Germany with a 17-day "Berlin in Lights" festival. This concert at Carnegie Hall was one of the featured events. The Berliner Philharmoniker performs Gustav Mahler's "Symphony No. 9," under the direction of acclaimed music director and conductor, Sir Simon Rattle. Other "Berlin in Lights" events are highlighted, including the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela performing Bartók's "Concerto for Orchestra." This orchestra is a sister orchestra to the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Stephen Sondheim's musical about a man who celebrates his 35th birthday with 10 friends, who happen to be 5 couples. This 2006 Broadway revival won a Tony award as "Best Revival" of the 2006-2007 seaon.
In a historic visit, the New York Philharmonic became the first American artists to perform in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea. Conductor Lorin Maazel directed the orchestra in their concert at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre in North Korea's capital city of Pyongyang. Reporter Bob Woodruff of ABC News provided behind-the-scenes coverage and a look at this country that is so mysterious to westerners.
James Taylor performs his 2007-2008 tour, One Man Band. Taylor's greatest hit songs are interspersed with personal anecdotes and home movies.
The country singer performs songs from her 15-year career, including songs from her latest CD, Waking Up Laughing. The concert was recorded live at i wireless Center in Moline, Illinois.
Stop-frame model animation, puppets, and digital photography are used to tell Sergei Prokofiev's classic tale in which orchestral instruments personify the characters of the story. The Philharmonia Orchestra of London performs under the direction of Mark Stephenson.
Engelbert Humperdinck's opera based on the fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm.
Charles Gounod's opera based on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Opera great Plácido Domingo takes the conductor's baton in this version.
Giuseppe Verdi's opera based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name is performed by New York's Metropolitan Opera Company.
Dance, photography and America's parks combine to present this on-location episode of Wolf Trap's acclaimed Face of America artistic adventure series. Performances include aerial dancers at Yosemite National Park and the U.S. Olympic Synchronized Swim Team at Coral Reef National Monument in the Virgin Islands.
Acclaimed South African actor Antony Sher performs his own adaptation of Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz. A chemist and member of the Italian resistance movement, Primo Levi spent 11 months in Auschwitz at the end of World War II. Levi's heirs have requested that Antony Sher be the only actor to portray Primo in the one-man play.
Giacomo Puccini's opera based on a French novel by Antoine François Prévost (the Abbé Prévost) telling the story of a pair of young lovers.
Benjamin Britton's opera about a man who proclaims his innocence under accusation.
Oscar nominated documentarian Allen Miller presents a portrait of Valery Gergiev, artistic director and general director of St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater. Gergiev is also principal conductor of the London Symphony and the Rotterdam Philharmonic and has appeared as principle guest conductor at New York's Metropolital Opera.
Conducted by Pierre Boulez.
A year after his death, Great Performances celebrates the life of Luciano Pavarotti. Rarely seen footage, archival performances, and interviews with friends and colleagues recount Pavarotti's life, career and later status as a worldwide superstar.
The 90th anniversary of the birth of composer Leonard Bernstein is celebrated. Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony.
Prolific composer and record producer David Foster brings together performers that he has worked with in his long career and a few new faces to celebrate an evening of music.
Three opera icons--tenors Plácido Domingo and Rolando Villazón, and soprano Anna Netrebko--perform selections from such favorite works as The Merry Widow, Land of Smiles and El Gato Montes. Recorded June 27, 2008 at the Imperial Park of Vienna's Schönbrunn Summer Palace.
San Francisco Ballet makes the beloved Nutcracker its own, resetting it during the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exhibition and introducing Dance in America viewers to the dazzling Maria Kochetkova and Davit Karapetyan. Recorded in December 2007 by KQED Public Television to help commemorate the company’s 75th anniversary, the work is choreographed by Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson and features sets and costumes by, respectively, Michael Yeargan and Martin Pakledinaz, both repeat Tony Award-winning designers. Introduced by Olympic champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, a native of the Bay Area.
John Adams' 1991 opera about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the atomic bomb.
Julie Andrews hosts as the Vienna Philharmonic performs Strauss favorites and a tribute to Franz Joseph Haydn, as 2009 is the 200th anniversary of his death. Daniel Barenboim conducts.
Actor Kevin Kline brings Cyrano de Bergerac to life in this Broadway production recorded on stage in performance at the Richard Rodgers Theater, January 3 and 4, 2008. Edmond Rostand's play tells of a swashbuckling poet who pines for the beautiful Roxane, but is too ashamed of his large nose to declare his love.
This 1905 opera by German composer, Richard Straus, is based on Oscar Wilde's play telling of the Biblical Salome, who danced for Herod in exchange for the head of John the Baptist. Modern dress is used for this production. Sung in German with English subtitles.
Hector Berlioz's opera about making a deal with the Devil gets an updated look thanks to technology in media. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and Italian tenor Marcello Giordani star as young lovers faced with the persuasive and wicked Méphistophélès, played by Canadian bass-baritone John Relyea. The production is sung in French, with English subtitles.
The opening gala of the Metropolitan Opera's 2008-2009 season features soprano Renee Fleming in three of her favorite roles. Taped in September, 2008, at the opening of the Met's 125th season. Presented are fully staged acts of the following operas: Act II of Verdi's La Traviata (with Ramon Vargas and Thomas Hampson; Conductor, James Levine) Act III of Massenet's Manon (with Ramon Vargas and Dwayne Croft; Conductor, Marco Armiliato) Final scene of Strauss' Capriccio (with Michael Devlin; Conductor, Patrick Summers)
An aging King Lear decides to abdicate and divide his kingdom among his three daughters. He seeks a kind of oath of love before doing so, with which Goneril and Regan falsely comply. Feeling that any statement of “most love” would be false, Cordelia refuses, provoking Lear to disown her and then banish his faithful steward Kent who comes to her defense. She leaves to marry the king of France. However, Lear still wants the trappings of kingship, so proposes to move between the now-divided kingdoms of his two remaining daughters while demanding royal privileges, represented by a companion train of one hundred knights. Kent reappears in disguise and takes up service to Lear. However, Lear gets no further than two weeks at Goneril’s castle. She tires of his knights’ unruly behavior, and threatens to take away half of them. In a rage Lear moves to Regan’s, but she has removed herself to Gloucester’s house, which is too small for one hundred knights. There she and Goneril gradually reduce his status until he is little more than an unwanted house guest, stirring him to increasingly bitter tirades against their ingratitude. He finally banishes himself, winding up on the heath in a brutal storm. Meanwhile, Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester, has convinced his father through the ruse of a forged letter and a staged wound from a fight that his legitimate son, Edgar, intends to assassinate him. Edmund also convinces Edgar that he is in danger (of course he is). Edgar flees and disguises himself as a beggar and madman to avoid detection. In this state he hides in a hovel on the heath during the storm. Nearby, Lear rages against the gods, nature, and his daughters. As the Fool and Kent try to get him shelter, they discover the “mad” Edgar. The quartet carry on in a madcap kind of way until Lear asks “Is man no more than this?” and has his clothes removed (in some performances). Gloucester finally finds them and leads them to shelter, where Lear cond
Gaetano Donizetti's opera about love and politics, and a woman who is driven to madness. This production is set in the Victorian era. Sung in Italian with English subtitles.
Giacomo Puccini's opera is performed by real-life couple, Angela Gheorghiu and husband Roberto Alagna. Gheorghiu plays an unhappy kept woman who has a fling with an idealistic young man (Alagna) who makes her question her decisions.
Orfeo ed Euridice (English translation: Orpheus and Eurydice) is the most famous opera by comoser Christoph Willibald von Gluck. It is the mythical tale of Orfeo, who enters Hades to retrieve his dead wife. This production is sung in Italian with English subtitles.
A behind the scenes look at the Broadway musical In the Heights, a "modern-day West Side Story" set in a latin neighborhood. Cameras follow the relatively unknown cast, led by composer-lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda, from a small off-Broadway theater to the show's debut at the Richard Rodgers theater on Broadway.
Long-time friends Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood perform songs from their short colaboration in the group Blind Faith as well as songs from Cream (Clapton's group), Traffic (Winwood's group), their solo efforts and other songs. Recorded live at Madison Square Garden in February 2008.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Motown Records, Stevie Wonder performs his first concert recorded for television. Taped in October 2008 at London's 02 Arena, the concert features Wonder's hits from the last 40 years, when he was billed as "Little Stevie Wonder."
The successful format of combining well-known singers with a light staging and full orchestra and chorus works well here for a re-staging of Chess the Musical - The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other; all in the context of a Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, during which both countries wanted to win international chess tournaments for propaganda purposes. Although the protagonists were not intended to represent any specific individuals, the character of the American was loosely based on chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer, while elements of the story may have been inspired by the chess careers of Russian grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov. (Wikipedia)
Vincenzo Bellinis opera about a sleepwalking woman forced to prove her undying love for her betrothed. "La Sonnambula" is Latin for "The Somnambulist." The original opera is set in the Swiss Alps. This production depicts modern-day actors staging a production of La Sonnambula in a rehearsal hall. Performed in Italian with English subtitles.
Giacomo Puccini's beloved opera tells the tale of a Japanese geisha betrayed by her American lover. This production was created by Academy Award-winning director Anthony Minghella, who passed away suddenly in March 2008. Sung in Italian with English subtitles, this performance was taped on March 7, 2009.
Renowned folk artist Pete Seeger turned 90 in May of 2009. To celebrate, more than 40 artists whose music was influenced by Seeger gathered at New York's Madison Square Garden to perform songs inspired by Seegers music and political activism. Taped live on May 3, 2009.
Gioachino Rossini's operatic version of the classic tale of Cinderella. Maestro Maurizio Benini conducts the Metropolitan Orchestra. Sung in Italian with English subtitles.
Many African Americans who found themselves in Europe at the end of WWI stayed there because there was less racism than in the United States. Over the next twenty years, until the violence of WWII, they created an expatriate community of musicians, entertainers and entrepreneurs, in Paris' Montmartre neighborhood. This documentary tells the story of this neglected portion of African American cultural history. Inspired by the book Harlem in Montmartre: a Paris Jazz Story by William A. Shack. Narrated by S. Epatha Merkerson.
Documentation of the life and career of Herbert von Karajan, one of the most respected conductors of the 20th centry. Karajan was director of the Berlin Philharmonic for 35 years, and conducted orchestras across Europe. Many performances are featured, including rehearsals, concerts and rare archived footage.
The Vienna Philharmonic performs an outdoor concert in the historic Baroque Park overlooking the Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace. Daniel Barenboim is the orchestra's conductor.
The Police final tour, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic opens the 2009 season with the debut of its 28-year-old music director, Gustavo Dudame. The concert was taped at the Disney Concert Hall on October 8, 2009. The LA Phil's new Creative Chairman, Pulitzer Prize-winning music composer John Adams, debuts his new work, City Noir, which evokes the Film Noir movies of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Internationally renown tenor Andrea Bocelli returns to Great Performances accompanied by producer and arranger David Foster. A variety of genres are represented in the selection of Christmas music, as Bocelli performs solos and with guest performers.
Sting sings a variety of songs, carols and lullabies, old and new, evoking the winter season. Recorded at Durham Cathedral near Sting's hometown of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in northern England. Musicians include local Newcastle artists Kathryn Tickell (Northumbrian pipes and fiddle), Peter Tickell (fiddle) and Julian Sutton (Melodeon). Other performers include Dominic Miller (guitar), Vincent Ségal (cello), Scottish harpist Mary MacMaster, Ira Coleman (bass), Chris Gecker (trumpet), David Mansfield (violin and mandolin), Cyro Baptista, Bashiri Johnson and Rhani Krija (percussion), and vocalists Laila Biali, Lisa Fischer, Jo Lawry and Steven Santoro. Also includes an additional ensemble of 35 musicians.
Acclaimed director Luc Bondy brings a new production of Puccini's Tosca to New York's Metropolitan Opera House. The performance is sung in Italian with English surtitles. Karita Mattila sings the title role of Tosca opposite Marcelo Álvarez as Cavaradossi. George Gagnidze plays Scarpia and Paul Plishka is the Sacristan.
Austrian director Robert Dornhelm brings Puccini's beloved opera to the big screen in this film adaptation released to theaters in October 2009. The piece is a showcase for opera greats Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón.
Julie Andrews returns for her second year hosting the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's celebration. The orchestra continues its tradition of performing Strauss waltzes, marches and polkas. Taped sequences are included showcasing beautiful European locations.
Spike Lee directed this film version of the award-winning Broadway rock musical. Writer and narrator, Stew, tells a semi-autobiographical story of a young black man who leaves his middle class home in the 1970s to travel to Europe to find himself.
Award-winning film maker Susan Froemke's documentary of the week leading up to the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions. The final group of talented and hopeful singers prepare and perform for the tough group of judges.
Opera star Renée Fleming hosts this new production of Verdi's Aida. Set in Egypt, this production was choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, artist-in-residence with American Ballet Theatre and former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet.
Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's last, unfinished opera. Zeffirelli also designed the dazzling sets. This production premiered at the Met in 1987, and has been an audience favorite ever since. Andris Nelsons is the conductor. The production is sung in Italian with English surtitles.
Popular Canadian singer Michael Bublé performs a concert at New York's Madison Square Garden. Recorded in December 2008, songs include his past hits and songs from his album, Call Me Irresponsible.
Jerome Robbins' urban ballet, set to a jazz score by Robert Prince, was originally performed in 1958. This film adaptation was shot in locations around New York City. Included is a 10-minute documentary about the origin and history of the work.
Jacques Offenbach's French opera, Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffman) is performed by the New York Metropolitan Opera. The production is sung in French with English subtitles.
Comic tale of love and intrigue in 18th-century Vienna.
The actors wear modern dress in this film adaptation of the 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company production. This film version of Hamlet first aired in the U.K. in December 2009.
Bizet's opera of the gypsy, Carmen, and her passionate relationships with men gets a fresh take with this new production at the Met. Yannick Nézet-Séguin is the conductor; Renée Fleming hosts. Elīna Garanča - Carmen Roberto Alagna - José Barbara Frittoli - Micaëla Teddy Tahu Rhodes - Escamillo
Four decades into a legendary Met career, tenor Plácido Domingo makes history singing the title role in Verdi's gripping political thriller, which is written for a baritone. Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, and James Morris are his co-stars in this moving and tragic story of a father and his lost daughter. James Levine conducts.
Ambroise Thomas's opera is performed. The original 1856 book changed Shakespeare's ending, making Hamlet King. When the opera was first performed in London Thomas rewrote the ending keeping more in line with Shakespeare's version. This production combines the two endings. Performed in French with English surtitles.
Renee Fleming takes on one of Rossini's most demanding roles in his opera, Armida, which takes place during the Crusades.
This comprehensive performance documentary, the first profile of the tenor in a decade, features the celebrated tenor – and general director of both the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera – as he looks back and reflects with heartfelt candor on his choicest roles from opera houses around the world – Simon Boccanegra and the Emmy-winning Tosca from Rome.
An American favorite for his award-winning role in the hit TV series House, the versatile British actor Hugh Laurie showcases his musical side in an atmospheric personal odyssey filmed on location in New Orleans
Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock launched the LA Phil’s 2011/12 season with a sparkling George Gershwin gala at Walt Disney Concert Hall in September. “This is the first time as a professional musician that I’ll be playing a piece that’s essentially classical music with jazz overtones with a symphony orchestra, and what a symphony orchestra it is!” marvels Hancock just before the concert, referring to his keyboard work in Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Hitman Returns was filmed before a sold out crowd last year at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The lineup of talent, lead by Foster as maestro of ceremonies, includes performances by Seal, Donna Summer, Martina McBride, Earth, Wind & Fire, Natalie Cole, Ruben Studdard, All-4-One,'Glee' star Charice, Chaka Khan, Jackie Evancho, Lara Fabian and other artists whose careers have been touched by Foster, a 15-time Grammy winning producer and songwriter.
The world-renown Vienna Philharmonic performs at Austria's beautiful Imperial Schönbrunn Palace. The evening's theme is "Moon, Planets and Stars," with selections including John Williams' "Star Wars," and Gustav Holst's "The Planets."
Soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky perform scenes from operas in St. Petersburg's most beautiful palaces. Between performances Fleming and Hvorostovsky visit the city's scenic wonders while boating through St. Petersburg's canals.
This production of Shakespeare's Scottish tale takes place in a 20th century military setting. It was filmed after a successful run as a stage production in London and New York.
Join us for a rousing celebration of the life and work of one of Broadway’s greatest legends – the one and only Stephen Sondheim. For the master composer and lyricist’s 80th birthday, many of musical theater’s brightest stars gathered to perform more than two dozen sensational numbers from Sondheim’s illustrious career. Many of these enduring songs are rarely heard and several are performed by the original Broadway cast members. David Hyde Pierce hosts this magical event with Stephen Sondheim’s longtime collaborator Paul Gemignani conducting the New York Philharmonic. Filmed live, March 15–16, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall, New York City.
Twenty years after dazzling audiences in his first solo Broadway concert early in his career, three-time Grammy Award-winner Harry Connick, Jr. returned to the Main Stem in a roster of favorites, performed in his trademark New Orleans style. Taped in July of 2010 at New York’s Neil Simon Theater, Harry Connick, Jr. in Concert on Broadway features Connick’s big band and a 12-piece string section, with the star on both a Steinway grand and upright honky-tonk piano. Variety raved, “Connick, in concert, packs such dynamite that those ‘Jersey Boys’ across the street seem positively sedate.” Backed by a cadre of top-flight musicians, including trombonist Lucien Barbarin, Connick performs an infectious mix of evergreen standards, original compositions, and New Orleans street music, all arranged and orchestrated by Connick. Song List: We Are in Love The Way You Look Tonight Bésame Mucho The Other Hours (from “Thou Shalt Not”) Nowhere with Love How Insensitive Come by Me Medley: My Time of Day / I’ve Never Been in Love Before All the Way Bayou Maharajah Hear Me in the Harmony Light the Way (from “Thou Shalt Not”) St. James Infirmary Blues Take Her to the Mardi Gras (from “Thou Shalt Not”) Bourbon Street Parade Mardi Gras in New Orleans
The Met’s production of Verdi’s grand opera, in which love, war, politics, and religion intertwine against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition, stars Roberto Alagna as the conflicted title character; Marina Poplavskaya as Elisabeth de Valois; Anna Smirnova as the scheming Princess Eboli; Ferruccio Furlanetto as the tormented tyrant Philip II; Simon Keenlyside as the heroic Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa; and Eric Halfvarson as the Grand Inquisitor. Critics and audiences greeted this new production and its cast with kudos: “You’ve heard about total theater? This is it.” (Variety); “A clear-cut hit… rarely have I seen an opera audience so unanimously satisfied” (Philadelphia Inquirer); and “Music so glorious not one minute seems superfluous” (Bloomberg). This production uses the five-act Italian version of Don Carlo, which includes the “Fontainebleau Act.” A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Hytner’s Don Carlo premiered in London in 2008. Hytner brought two internationally acclaimed designers to the Met for the first time with Don Carlo: set and costume designer Bob Crowley, the winner of five Tony awards for his Broadway designs, and Tony-winning lighting designer Mark Henderson who has received five Olivier Awards for his work on the London stage.
In June 2010, Eric Clapton gathered a veritable Who’s Who of the world’s most talented guitar players at the third Crossroads Guitar Festival, an 11-hour celebration of the six-string that attracted a sold-out crowd of more than 27,000 music fans to Chicago’s Toyota Park. All profits from this daylong display of guitar virtuosity benefited The Crossroads Centre in Antigua, a treatment and education facility Clapton founded to help people suffering from chemical dependency.
Jackie Evancho's solo concert supports her first full-length album, ''Dream With Me.''
Verdi’s Il Trovatore, starring four of the world’s most celebrated interpreters of the leading roles and conducted by Marco Armiliato, was originally seen live in movie theaters on April 30, 2011 as part of the groundbreaking series, The Met: Live in HD, which transmits live performances to more than 1500 movie theaters and performing arts centers in 46 countries around the world. The cast earned excellent reviews for their performances as the heroic troubadour of the title, Marcelo Álvarez is “exciting, conveying Manrico’s urgency and desperation”; in the role of Leonora, Sondra Radvanovsky is “remarkable…a spirited, feisty heroine”; Dolora Zajick is “a force of nature” as Azucena, the gypsy with a dark secret; and Dmitri Hvorostovsky‘s “vivid presence and rich baritone emphasize Count di Luna’s swings between hell-bent vengeance and romantic obsession”.
Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads his first Met performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in a new production directed by Tony Award winner Michael Grandage in his Met debut The classic tale of lust, heartbreak, and revenge stars charismatic Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien in his first-ever Met performances of the notorious title character. For the first time with Don Giovanni at the Met, Luisi conducts the performance from a cembalo in the orchestra pit. Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka and German soprano Mojca Erdmann make their Met debuts as two of Giovanni’s female conquests, Donna Anna and Zerlina, opposite distinguished Mozartean Barbara Frittoli as the fiery Donna Elvira. Tenor Ramón Vargas sings the role of Donna Anna’s fiancé, the nobleman Don Ottavio, and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni is Giovanni’s hapless manservant Leporello. Joshua Bloom sings the shepherd Masetto and Štefan Kocán is the vengeful Commendatore.
A contemporary take on the 18th-century tradition of operatic “pasticcios” (pastiches), in which new librettos were combined with music from various compositions to create entirely new theatrical pieces. The tradition was particularly popular in London, where Handel was a prominent practitioner. The score for The Enchanted Island comprises selections from a variety of Baroque operas, cantatas, and oratorios, many of which are rarely performed in contemporary opera houses.
A celebration to mark Tanglewood's 75th anniversary includes the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and artists Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Peter Serkin and James Taylor.
Natalie Dessay stars in Willy Decker's production of Verdi's opera ''La Traviata.''
The program: La Forza del Destino Ouverture Alan Gilbert, New York Philharmonic “La donna ė mobile” (Rigoletto) Andrea Bocelli “Di quella pira” (Il Trovatore) Andrea Bocelli “Va Tosca! (Te Deum)” (Tosca) Bryn Terfel, Choir “Ave Maria ‘Ellens dritter Gesang’” Andrea Bocelli “Vicino a te s’acqueta” (Andrea Chenier) Andrea Bocelli, Ana Maria Martinez “Au fond du temple saint” (Les Pêcheurs de Perles) Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel “O Soave Fanciulla” (La Bohème) Andrea Bocelli, Pretty Yende “Libiano ne’lieti calici” (La Traviata) Andrea Bocelli, Pretty Yende, Choir “Home on the Range” Bryn Terfel, Choir “En Aranjuez con tu amor” Andrea Bocelli, Nicola Benedetti (violin) “’O Sole Mio” Andrea Bocelli, Choir “Once Upon a Time in the West” Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, Chris Botti (trumpet) “Volare” Andrea Bocelli, David Foster “The Prayer” Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, David Foster “New York, New York” Andrea Bocelli, Tony Bennett “Amazing Grace” Andrea Bocelli, Choir “Time to Say Goodbye” Andrea Bocelli, Ana Maria Martinez, Choir “Nessun Dorma” (Turandot) (encore) Andrea Bocelli, Choir Bocelli’s performance was the latest in a rich tradition of memorable free concerts in Central Park which, over the years, has included such notable performers as Barbra Streisand, Simon and Garfunkel, Diana Ross, Garth Brooks, Bob Marley and the Wailers, and Bon Jovi.
Experience Hans Christian Andersen's haunting tale of love in San Francisco Ballet's production of this inventive ballet. Hamburg Ballet's chief choreographer John Neumeier blends dance, dramatic storytelling and spectacle in a darkly emotional interpretation of the classic fable.
This program – a trio of signature works by the renowned choreographers — will showcase the company’s critically acclaimed performances of Balanchine’s “Square Dance” (music by Antonio Vivaldi and Arcangelo Corelli) and “Western Symphony” (music by Hershy Kay) and Tharp’s “The Golden Section” (music composed and performed by David Byrne). From their home base in Miami Beach (and utilizing four performing venues in South Florida), Miami City Ballet – under the leadership of Artistic Director Edward Villella, celebrated its 25th Anniversary Season in 2010-11. More than 88 ballets are featured in its repertory, works created by a roster of world-class choreographers including George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Frederick Ashton, Anthony Tudor and John Cranko as well as such 19th century classics as “Giselle,” “Coppelia” and “Don Quixote.”
Anna Netrebko is Adina in Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore."
For this production of Verdi’s Shakespearean tragedy Otello starring Johan Botha in the title role and Renée Fleming as Otello’s innocent wife, Desdemona, and Falk Struckmann as the villainous Iago. Semyon Bychkov, who led an acclaimed run of performances featuring Botha and Fleming in the 2007-08 season, again conducts the opera, regarded by many critics as Verdi’s dramatic masterpiece.
Director Michael Mayer makes his Metropolitan Opera debut with Verdi's "Rigoletto," a new production that moves the setting of the story to the Las Vegas strip circa 1960.
Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska made a spectacular Met debut as Aida, the enslaved Ethiopian princess, opposite two major Met stars: tenor Roberto Alagna as the war hero Radamès and Olga Borodina as the pharaoh’s daughter Amneris, Aida’s formidable rival. George Gagnidze sings Amonasro, Aida’s cunning father, and Štefan Kocán is the imposing Egyptian priest Ramfis. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi conducts his first company performances of the opera.
Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads a rare revival of Berlioz’s epic Les Troyens, based on Virgil’s Aeneid. Bryan Hymel stars as Aeneas, the Trojan hero. Deborah Voigt sings Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess who tries to warn her countrymen of the dangers about to befall them, and Susan Graham makes her Met role debut as Dido, the Carthaginian queen who gives her heart to Aeneas with disastrous consequences.
The Metropolitan Opera's first-ever production of Gaetano Donizetti's historical opera ``Maria Stuarda'' stars Joyce DiDonato as Mary, Queen of Scots.
Archival footage, performances and interviews with choreographers and dancers at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Mass.
Eric Owens hosts a new production of ``Parsifal,'' Wagner's final masterpiece.
Lorin Maazel conducts the Vienna Philharmonic's spring concert saluting Richard Wagner and Giuseppi Verdi; featuring tenor Michael Schade.
King Richard is called upon to settle a dispute between his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, and Thomas Mowbray. Richard calls for a duel but then halts it just before swords clash. Both men are banished from the realm. Richard visits John of Gaunt, Bolingbroke’s Father, who, in the throes of death, reprimands the King. After seizing Gaunt’s money and lands, Richard leaves for wars against the rebels in Ireland. Bolingbroke returns to claim back his inheritance. Supported by his allies, Northumberland and the Duke of York, Bolingbroke takes Richard prisoner and lays claim to the throne.
The heir to the throne, Prince Hal, defies his father, King Henry, by spending his time at Mistress Quickly's tavern in the company of the dissolute Falstaff and his companions. The King is threatened by a rebellion led by Hal’s rival, Hotspur, Hotspur’s father Northumberland, and his uncle Worcester. In the face of this danger to the state, Prince Hal joins his father to defeat the rebels at the Battle of Shrewsbury and Kill Hotspur in hand-to-hand combat.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Shrewsbury, Northumberland learns of the death of his son. The Lord Chief Justice attempts, on behalf of the increasingly frail King, to separate Falstaff from Prince Hal. The rebels continue to plot insurrection. Falstaff is sent to recruit soldiers and takes his leave of his mistress, Doll Tearsheet. The rebel forces are overcome. This brings comfort to the dying King, who is finally reconciled to his son. Falstaff rushes to Hal’s coronation with expectations of high office, only to be rebuffed by the former prince who has now become King Henry V.
Henry V has settled onto the throne and has the makings of a fine King. The French Ambassador brings a challenge from the French Dauphin. Inspired by his courtiers, including Exeter and York, Henry swears that he will, with all force, answer this challenge. The Chorus tells of England’s preparations for war and Henry’s army sails for France. After Exeter’s diplomacy is rebuffed by the French King, Henry lays a heavy siege and captures Harfleur. The French now take Henry’s claims seriously and challenge the English army to battle at Agincourt. Henry and his meager forces prove victorious against all odds.
Great Performances presents the New York Philharmonic’s concert staging of legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical, “Company,” with an all-star cast. The groundbreaking musical premiered in 1970 and had Broadway revivals in 1995 and 2006. “Company” centers on Bobby, a confirmed bachelor, celebrating his 35th birthday with his ten closest friends, who happen to be five couples. Captured from the stage of Avery Fisher Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Hugh Jackman returns in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” in time for the landmark musical’s 70th anniversary. Jackman — who recently starred in the hit film version of “Les Miserables” — can be seen again in his breakout musical role as cowpoke Curly in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!,” Friday, November 15 at 9 p.m. on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances as part of the PBS Arts Fall Festival.
Singer Barbra Streisand performs at the Barclays Center, marking her first concert in Brooklyn, N.Y., since her childhood years. Special guests include Il Volo, Chris Botti and Jason Gould.
Christopher Plummer recreates his Tony Award-winning role playing the legendary actor John Barrymore in the film adaptation of William Luce's Broadway play. Set in 1942, the production centers on the acclaimed—and notorious— John Barrymore, capturing the star in the final months of his life as he struggles to prepare for a audition to stage a revival of his 1920 Broadway triumph, Richard III.
Two men decide to test the faithfulness of the women they are going to marry by plotting to seduce each other's fiancee.
Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman and renowned cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot join forces for a musical exploration of liturgical and traditional works in new arrangements for both chamber orchestra and klezmer settings. The program of songs are alternately joyful and intensely moving. Perlman provides elucidating and historical commentary as well as humor.
Conductor Christoph Eschenbach leads the Vienna Philharmonic in its traditional open-air concert at Austria's Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. Pianist Lang Lang is featured on Richard Strauss' "Burleske" and Mozart's "Turkish March."
The National Theatre opened its doors in 1963 with Laurence Olivier as its first director. Eight hundred productions later, the venerable institution celebrates its 50th anniversary with a starry cast of theatrical legends to applaud the remarkable people and plays that have made the NT one of the most cherished and creative wellspring’s of international theater: from premieres of plays by Tom Stoppard, Peter Shaffer, Harold Pinter, Alan Bennett and David Hare, to outstanding revivals of classic plays and musicals. Directed by the NT’s Artistic Director Nicholas Hytner, the star-studded evening of live performance also features rare glimpses from the archive spotlighting many of the most celebrated actors who have performed on the National’s stages over the past five decades.
Musical performances celebrate the 200th anniversary of ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' live from Baltimore's harbor; hosts John Lithgow and Jordin Sparks.
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek LIVE! – featuring an evening of classic jazz standards in both vocal duets and solo performances. Filmed at the Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, in front of a live audience of invited guests, many of whom were students involved in arts programs in New York City public schools.
Stage and screen legend Julie Andrews returns for the sixth time to host the festive annual New Year’s celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic, under the direction of Zubin Mehta, from Vienna’s Musikverein. From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2015, featuring the infectious melodies of the Strauss Family and their contemporaries, aired on Great Performances, Thursday, January 1 at 2:30 p.m. ET on PBS with an encore performance that evening at 8 p.m. From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2015 with Zubin MehtaThis is the 77-year-old maestro’s fifth appearance on the podium for the New Year’s Concert. Following Willi Boskovsky, Clemens Krauss and Lorin Maazel, Mehta joins the list of these great maestros who have conducted the concert most often. The Vienna State Ballet heads back to school and dances to both the “Students Polka” and the “Wine, Women and Song Waltz” in the palatial main building of Vienna’s 650-year-old University on the city’s grand Ringstrasse. The venerable concert is the largest worldwide event in classical music reaching millions of people annually through radio and television in over 80 countries. The Vienna Philharmonic’s traditional New Year’s program has showcased Viennese musical culture at the highest level, and since the first television broadcast in 1959, sent the world a New Year’s greeting in the spirit of hope, friendship and peace. (The telecast marks the 31st broadcast of the event on PBS.)
World-renowned American opera singer Renée Fleming convenes a festival of special guests to celebrate the diverse range of America’s vocal artistry. Young artists receive mentoring from respected singers including Ben Folds, Dianne Reeves, Sutton Foster, Eric Owens, Kim Burrell and Alison Krauss. Also see performances by Josh Groban, Sara Bareilles and Norm Lewis.
The season nine premiere of Great Performances at the Met is Mozart’s elegant masterpiece of marital discord, Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Met Music Director James Levine and staged by Richard Eyre. Ildar Abdrazakov sings the title role, Marlis Petersen plays Figaro’s quick-witted bride-to-be, Susanna, and Peter Mattei is Count Almaviva.
Following a London West End run in December 2007, a sold-out limited engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in March 2008, and an eight-week run on Broadway, director Rupert Goold's stage production of Macbeth was filmed for television at the end of 2009 with Patrick Stewart in his Tony-nominated performance as the ambitious general, and Tony-nominated Kate Fleetwood as his scheming wife.
Director Richard Eyre’s production of Bizet’s Carmen stars Anita Rachvelishvili as Carmen. Aleksandrs Antonenko is the soldier Don José, Anita Hartig is Micaëla, and Ildar Abdrazakov is the toreador Escamillo.
Conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, selections include music by Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, Luis Bacalov, performed by the New York Philharmonic and featuring Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming and Josh Groban. The concert includes video projection with animated graphics and film clips related to the films La Dolce Vita, Cinema Paradiso, Once Upon a Time in the West, Il Postino and more.
The popular performer from the 80s and 90s performs songs from his 3-decade long career before an enthusiastic crowd in Toronto.
Isabel Leonard stars as Rosina in Rossini's classic comedy ``The Barber of Seville.''
Choreographer Mark Morris’s signature work comes to television for the first time, hosted by Mikhail Baryshnikov. Morris garnered international fame for this piece, set to George Frideric Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato with libretto based on John Milton's poetry. This performance of the Mark Morris Dance Group with live music was filmed at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain.
The concert of her Grammy-nominated album features Lennox’s takes on iconic American compositions by such artists as Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Billie Holiday and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, as she pays tribute to some of the greatest artists of the 20th century, interpreting compositions that have moved her, stripping them down to their emotional and musical core and making them her own.
James Levine leads Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (“The Master-Singer of Nuremberg”) in its first Great Performances at the Met broadcast. Michael Volle is the cobbler-poet Hans Sachs, starring with Johan Botha as Walther, Annette Dasch as Eva, Johannes Martin Kränzle as Beckmesser, Hans-Peter König as Pogner, Paul Appleby as David, and Karen Cargill as Magdalene. Renée Fleming hosts.
Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo stars as the tortured poet unlucky in love in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann on Great Performances at the Met. Offenbach based the opera on three stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The production is by Broadway director Bartlett Sher. Soprano Deborah Voigt hosts the broadcast.
The start of BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons’ tenure with the orchestra features two of the conductor’s close colleagues: his wife, the acclaimed Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais, and the outstanding German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, each singing selections from the Wagnerian and Italian verismo repertoires. The inaugural concert was filmed in September 2014.
The lavish new staging of Lehár’s effervescent operetta The Merry Widow is the Met debut of Broadway director and choreographer Susan Stroman. Soprano Renée Fleming adds a new character to her Met repertory as Hanna, the rich widow. Sir Andrew Davis conducts the cast that also includes baritone Nathan Gunn as Danilo; tenor Alek Shrader; baritone Sir Thomas Allen; and Broadway star Kelli O’Hara.
Polish film director Mariusz Treli?ski makes his Met debut with the new production, inspired by noir films of the 1940s. Valery Gergiev conducts the two rarely performed one-acts: Tchaikovsky’s lyrical fairy tale Iolanta and Bartók’s harrowing Bluebeard’s Castle. Iolanta stars Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczala and Aleksei Markov. Bluebeard's Castle stars Nadja Michael and Mikhail Petrenko.
James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury reprise the play about an elderly Southern white woman and her black chauffeur in mid-twentieth century Atlanta, GA.
Natalie Portman hosts Dudamel Conducts a John Williams Celebration with the LA Phil on Great Performances Friday, July 24 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Itzhak Perlman is the special guest in a gala opening night concert paying tribute to the prolific film composer. The Los Angeles Philharmonic Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel conducts.
Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez headline Rossini’s bel canto tour-de-force "La Donna del Lago" on Great Performances at the Met (check local listings). Based on the work by Sir Walter Scott, DiDonato is Elena, the lady of the lake pursued by two men, with Flórez as Giacomo, the benevolent king of Scotland. Michele Mariotti conducts debuting Scottish director Paul Curran’s staging.
Led by guest conductor Zubin Mehta, the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic returns for its 12th open-air summer concert, this time with a distinctly Scandinavian flavor, in the magnificent gardens of Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace. The varied program includes favorites by Grieg, Sibelius and Lumbye. The concert soloist is the internationally acclaimed Austrian piano virtuoso Rudolf Buckbinder.
Sir David McVicar directs the first new Met production of the popular verismo double bill in 45 years: Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, both with Marcelo Álvarez as the male lead. Eva-Maria Westbroek and Patricia Racette also star. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the operas, both set in Sicily - one in a 1900 village square, the other at a 1948 truck stop.
Joyce DiDonato plays the title character in Rossini's ``La Cenerentola.''
A retrospective of Chita Rivera's film, television and stage career, including interviews with Dick Van Dyke, Ben Vereen, Carol Lawrence and others.
Tenor Andrea Bocelli pays tribute to songs from the movies; with David Foster.
Julie Andrews hosts the annual New Year’s Day celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic from Vienna’s Musikverein, a beloved annual tradition. Maestro Mariss Jansons will conduct the popular concert of melodies by the Strauss Family and their contemporaries. The the Vienna Boys’ Choir and soloists of the Vienna State Ballet also perform.
Soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Yonghoon Lee make their Met role debuts in Verdi's Il Trovatore. Netrebko sings Leonora, the tortured heroine who sacrifices her own life for the love of the Gypsy troubadour, Manrico, played by Yonghoon Lee. Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings Count di Luna, Dolora Zajick sings her signature role of the gypsy Azucena, and tefan Kocán is Ferrando. Marco Armiliato conducts.
For this production of Verdi’s tragic opera, Aleksandrs Antonenko, one of the world’s leading interpreters of Otello, sings his first Met performances of the role, opposite Sonya Yoncheva as Desdemona and Željko Lučić as the villainous Iago.
James Levine conducts Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser with Johan Botha on Great Performances at the Met. Eva-Maria Westbroek, Michelle DeYoung, Peter Mattei, and Gunther Groissbock also star in Otto Schenk’s classic production. Wagner’s early masterpiece Tannhäuser comes to Great Performances at the Met for the first time. It is the production’s first Met revival in more than a decade. Johan Botha makes his Met role debut in the titular role; Eva-Maria Westbroek is Elisabeth, adding another Wagner heroine to her Met repertoire after her acclaimed Sieglinde in Die Walküre; Michelle DeYoung is the love goddess Venus, which she sang in the opera’s previous revival; Peter Mattei is Wolfram; and Günther Groissböck is the Landgraf.
Artist William Kentridge directs Alban Berg’s opera Lulu, starring German soprano Marlis Petersen as the irresistible femme fatale. One of the most important and notorious stage works of the 20th century, Lulu is the drama of a young woman who sexually and emotionally dominates a wide range of willing victims, both male and female. Welsh National Opera music director Lothar Koenigs conducts.
A concert with folk music legend Joan Baez and others, celebrating her birthday at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Baez is joined on stage by stars including David Bromberg, Jackson Browne, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Judy Collins, David Crosby, Emmylou Harris, Indigo Girls, Damien Rice, Paul Simon, Mavis Staples, Nano Stern, and Richard Thompson.
Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda and directed by Penny Woolcock, Bizet’s sweeping romance tells the story of a beautiful Hindu priestess pursued by rival pearl divers competing for her hand. Diana Damrau leads the cast as the priestess Leïla, opposite Matthew Polenzani as Nadir, Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga, and Nicolas Testé as the high priest Nourabad.
Hear Swedish soprano Nina Stemme sing the demanding title role of Puccini’s Chinese ice princess, with Anita Hartig as the angelic slave girl Liù and Marco Berti as Calàf. Paolo Carignani conducts Franco Zeffirelli’s spectacular 1987 production.
Hear Kristine Opolais and Roberto Alagna as the ill-fated lovers in Puccini’s passionate adaptation of the classic novel about a free-spirited country girl. Sir Richard Eyre’s new production, conducted by Fabio Luisi, is set in the 1940s.
Kristine Opolais brings her heartbreaking interpretation of the title role to the series for the first time. Roberto Alagna sings Lieutenant Pinkerton, the callous officer who crushes Butterfly's dreams of love. Debuting conductor Karel Mark Chichon leads a cast that includes Maria Zifchak as Suzuki and Dwayne Croft as Sharpless.
The last opera in Donizetti’s Tudor trilogy, directed by Sir David McVicar, stars Sondra Radvanovsky as Elizabeth I and features Matthew Polenzani, Elina Garanca and Mariusz Kwiecien. Maurizio Benini conducts.
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts patrice Chéreau’s acclaimed staging of Elektra, with Nina Stemme in the title role on Great Performances at the Met
Led by guest conductor Semyon Bychkov for the very first time, the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic returns for its 13th open-air concert, with a program of French orchestral classics, in the magnificent gardens of Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace.
A concert pays tribute to the 2016 Grammy special merit award recipients Ruth Brown, Celia Cruz, Earth, Wind & Fire, Jefferson Airplane, Herbie Hancock, Linda Ronstadt and Run-DMC.
Hamilton’s America, the documentary film that brings history to vivid life through the lens of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pop culture Broadway phenomenon Hamilton – winner of 11 Tony Awards® and the Pulitzer Prize – explodes onto THIRTEEN’s Great Performances, as the season premiere of the PBS Arts Fall Festival.
Imelda Staunton stars as Mother Rose in this London revival of the classic Broadway show.
The King is dead and England is in crisis. War rages with the French and divisions within the English court threaten the crown. Young Henry VI causes outrage by marrying Margaret of Anjou, forcing an unwanted truce; the scene is set for Civil War.
Bitter rivalries erupt into the Wars of the Roses. The feeble King Henry is overshadowed by Queen Margaret and her faction of Lancastrian Lords, his reign further undermined by disaffected nobles supporting the House of York. Battle and bloodshed ensues and the Yorkists triumph. Edward IV takes the throne, but his youngest brother Richard has his eyes firmly on the crown.
The gala celebratory event, hosted by David Tennant and Catherine Tate, features Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Rufus Wainwright, Joseph Fiennes, and many more, saluting the Bard across multiple genres.
ichard, the most notorious of Shakespeare’s kings, manipulates and betrays his way through the court on a bloodthirsty and ruthless path to the throne. But after Richard’s defeat at the battle of Bosworth Field, the Houses of Lancaster and York—the red rose and the white—are united, bringing to an end the Wars of the Roses and long tumultuous period of civil strife.
The Vienna Philharmonic celebrates the New Year with Strauss Family waltzes, accompanied by the Vienna City Ballet; host Julie Andrews.
The world premiere of Bel Canto the Opera, filmed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, airs on Great Performances. Based on Ann Patchett‘s bestselling 2001 novel (inspired by the Peruvian hostage crisis of 1996-97), the new opera was composed by Jimmy López with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz and curated by legendary soprano Renée Fleming, Lyric’s creative consultant.
Alicia Keys – Landmarks Live in Concert kicks off a new arts strand within the Great Performances series, beginning with Alicia Keys. In her episode, Keys performs all over her native city of New York in various locations including Harlem's world famous Apollo Theater. Chad Smith, the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, serves as host for the series and conducts one-on-one interviews with the artists exploring their favorite locations around each Landmark.
In Brad Paisley - Landmarks Live in Concert, the best-selling country artist returns home to perform before a crowd of 35,000 at West Virginia University. The series, in which popular artists perform near landmarks of personal significance, is hosted by Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Simon Rattle conducts a new production of Wagner's ``Tristan und Isolde''; with Nina Stemme and Stuart Skelton.
New York City Ballet in Paris opens with Walpurgisnacht Ballet, set to music by Charles Gounod, and originally choreographed for a Paris Opera Ballet production of the opera Faust in 1975. First performed as an independent work by NYCB in 1980, Walpurgisnacht Ballet is a joyful embodiment of classical choreography, ending with a surging finale that sends 24 ballerinas soaring across the stage. The cast for Walpurgisnacht Ballet includes Sara Mearns, Adrian Danchig-Waring, and Lauren Lovette.
Charismatic baritone Simon Keenlyside stars as the title character in Don Giovanni, bringing his acclaimed interpretation of the role to Great Performances at the Met for the first time. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi conducts Tony Award-winner Michael Grandage’s staging of Mozart’s masterpiece.
The New York City Ballet performs two classic ballets by George Balanchine -- Georges Bizet's Symphony in C and Sonatine, set to the music of Maurice Ravel.
Gustavo Dudamel accents the colors, rhythms, and passion of music by leading composers from Argentina in this invigorating evening under the stars — recorded at the Hollywood Bowl in August.
One of the most discussed, praised, and successful of recent operas, L’Amour de Loin is a seductively beautiful tale of love’s unfathomable nature. The idea of impossible love was central to the explosion of poetry in Europe in the 12th century, and it has remained prominent in all the arts ever since. Similarly, death, for the poetic soul, is both an end and a culmination, an idea that the medium of opera has explored with unique insight throughout its history. L’Amour de Loin explores this same artistic territory in a way that is sensitive to both the sources of the medieval legend on which it is based and to the contemporary ear.
Young Men, a World War I-inspired feature-length dance film commemorating the Great War’s centennial, comes to Great Performances Friday, April 7 at 9PM on PBS. Young Men was filmed on location in Northern France with the BalletBoyz dance company.
Hailed by The New York Times for singing “with white-hot sensuality and impassioned lyricism,” Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo star as the tragic lovers in Shakespeare’s classic story. The Met’s new production by director Bartlett Sher also features Virginie Verrez as Stéphano, Elliot Madore as Mercutio, and Mikhail Petrenko as Frère Laurent. Gianandrea Noseda conducts the sumptuous score.
The legendary Plácido Domingo brings another new baritone role to the Met as the title king in Nabucco, under the baton of his longtime collaborator James Levine on Great Performances at the Met Liudmyla Monastyrska is Abigaille, the warrior woman determined to rule empires, and Jamie Barton is the heroic Fenena. Russell Thomas is Ismaele, nephew to the King of Jerusalem and Dmitry Belosselskiy is the stentorian voice of the oppressed Hebrew people. The opera premiered at Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1842. The success of Verdi’s third opera, a stirring drama about the fall of ancient Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco), catapulted the 28-year-old composer to international fame. The music and Verdi himself were subsumed into a surge of patriotic fervor culminating in the foundation of the modern nation of Italy. Specifically, the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (“Va, pensiero”), in which the Israelites express their longing for their homeland, came to stand for the country’s aspirations for unity and that exciting era in Italian history, the Risorgimento, or “Resurgence.”
Kristine Opolais stars in her first Met performance as the title character in Antonin Dvořák's Rusalka. The critically acclaimed new staging, directed by Mary Zimmerman and conducted by Mark Elder.
Andrea Bocelli - Landmarks Live in Concert - A Great Performances Special continues the new Landmarks arts strand on Friday, June 30 at 10 p.m. on PBS (Check local listings.) Landmarks Live in Concert special features an artist or band performing at a legendary destination of personal significance. The series is hosted by, Chad Smith, the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers who conducts one-on-one interviews with the artists exploring their favorite locations around each Landmark.
Anna Netrebko stars as Tatiana, the naïve heroine of Tchaikovsky’s opera, with Peter Mattei as the title character who rejects her. Alexey Dolgov is Onegin’s friend-turned-rival, Lenski, with Elena Maximova as Tatiana’s sister, Olga, and Štefan Kocán as Prince Gremin. Robin Ticciati conducts.
The world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic returns for its 14th open-air concert, in Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. Christoph Eschenbach conducts a varied program of works from “Sleeping Beauty” to “Hansel and Gretel” to “Harry Potter.”
Sonya Yoncheva and Michael Fabiano play lovers Violetta and Alfredo in this revival of Willy Decker's staging of Verdi's ``La Traviata.''
Renée Fleming performs one of her greatest signature roles, The Marschallin, in Der Rosenkavalier on the season finale of Great Performances at the Met. Elīna Garanča plays Octavian, the impulsive young title character. The opera was conducted by Sebastian Weigle and directed by Robert Carsen.
A performance documentary outlines the evolving cultural scene in Cuba; host Raul Malo.
The Recording Academy honors Lifetime Achievement Award recipients Shirley Caesar, Ahmad Jamal, Charley Pride, Jimmie Rodgers, Nina Simone, Sly Stone, producer Thom Bell, record executive Mo Ostin, Ralph S. Peer and the Velvet Underground.
Two feuding store clerks find solace in each other as anonymous romantic pen pals.
A revival of Noël Coward's ``Present Laughter'' features Kevin Kline, Kate Burton, Kristine Nielsen and Cobie Smulders.
As part of its Broadway’s Best lineup, Great Performances airs a special encore presentation of In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams – Friday, November 10 at 9 p.m. ET (check local listings) – showcasing the 2008 musical that launched Lin-Manuel Miranda’s rise to stardom.
Multi-Grammy-winning rock band Foo Fighters delivers an electrifying, historic performance at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, in the latest installment of Landmarks Live in Concert for GREAT PERFORMANCES. Captured this past July, Foo Fighters – Landmarks Live in Concert: A Great Performances Special premieres nationwide Friday, November 10 at 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
Broadway’s critically acclaimed and Tony Award-winning Indecent comes to Great Performances Friday, November 17 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) as part of the fall Broadway’s Best lineup.
The festive Roundabout Theatre Company production of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn - The Broadway Musical comes to PBS Friday, November 24 at 9 p.m. (check local listings). The musical continues the Great Performances marathon within the Broadway’s Best lineup on PBS.
The Moody Blues perform the ``Days of Future Passed'' album in its entirety in Toronto.
David Foster has generated some of the biggest hits in popular music, and collaborated with a veritable “Who’s Who” of superstars in a career spanning more than three decades. In this special encore presentation, Foster’s achievements, including 14 Grammy Awards, are celebrated in an all-star concert.
The Vienna Philharmonic performs Strauss family waltzes, accompanied by the Vienna City Ballet; host Hugh Bonneville.
Conducted by Carlo Rizzi, Bellini's ``Norma'' features Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato and Joseph Calleja.
Two decades after the album’s critically acclaimed release, Nas teamed up with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to stage a symphonic rendition of “Illmatic,” one of the most revered albums in hip-hop history.
Editors of AARP The Magazine present awards to actors, films and filmmakers whose work appeals to the 50-plus audience.
The Exterminating Angel was inspired by the classic Luis Buñuel film of the same name, and stars John Tomlinson and Alice Coote. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is the host. Thomas Adès’s production is set in a luxurious mansion at the beginning of a fancy party. Inexplicably, all the servants, except the butler Julio, escape the De Nobile mansion while guests enjoy their meal. The guests feel no motivation to go home and instead make themselves comfortable for the night. When morning comes and the guests realize they can’t leave, panic sets in and two visitors take their own lives, while another, who was ill, dies. Suddenly, Leticia realizes that everyone is in exactly the same place as when their captivity began. They repeat their actions from the first night and are ultimately able to escape, but their freedom will not last long.
International superstar will.i.am performs from London’s historic Royal Albert Hall in a one-night-only concert event. The Grammy-, Emmy- and Latin Grammy-winning artist, writer and producer reunites with members of the Black Eyed Peas on stage for the first time in over six years, plus special guests Pia Mia, Eva Simons and Lydia Lucy (“The Voice UK”).
In Bartlett Sher’s production, the beautiful and wealthy Adina draws the attention of Nemorino, the poor but good-hearted country boy, as well as Sergeant Belcore, who immediately asks Adina to marry him. To win her love, Nemorino spends all his money on a magic elixir of love sold by the traveling “doctor” Dulcamara. Believing he is irresistible to Adina after drinking the potion, Nemorino feigns indifference, but his actions leave her surprised, hurt and ready to wed Belcore. At the wedding, a single tear on Adina’s cheek is all Nemorino needs to know her true feelings, and at long last, they confess their love for one another. Domingo Hindoyan conducts. Soprano Susanna Phillips hosts.
See the classic Puccini opera starring Sonya Yoncheva as Mimì and Michael Fabiano as Rodolfo. In 1830s Paris, the budding romances of two couples are tested by jealousy, poverty and illness. Marco Armiliato conducts.
Explore the rich history of the Met Opera’s Lincoln Center home and the cultural life of 1950s-60s New York City. Features famed soprano Leontyne Price, the Met’s general manager Rudolf Bing, city planner Robert Moses and architect Wallace Harrison.
Puccini’s thrilling classic, with Sonya Yoncheva, Vittorio Grigolo and Željko Lučić.
THIRTEEN’s Great Performances and Pacific Symphony, led by music director Carl St.Clair, pay tribute to America’s history with a performance of composer Peter Boyer’s “Ellis Island: The Dream of America,” a Grammy-nominated contemporary classical work celebrating the historic American immigrant experience.
Experience Rossini’s masterpiece starring Angela Meade as Queen Semiramide and Elizabeth DeShong as Arsace, the Queen’s fiancé and her own son. Javier Camarena, Ildar Abdrazakov and Ryan Speedo Green complete the cast. Maurizio Benini conducts.
Enjoy a new production of Mozart’s comedy of the sexes set in 1950s Coney Island. Stars Kelli O’Hara, Amanda Majeski, Serena Malfi, Ben Bliss, Adam Plachetka and Christopher Maltman. David Robertson conducts.
A tribute to Chicago vocalists features performances by Renée Fleming, Jessie Mueller, Kurt Elling, Michelle Williams, Matthew Polenzani, Shemekia Copeland, The Handsome Family, John Prine, Lupe Fiasco and the Voices of Trinity Mass Choir.
Verdi's "Luisa Miller,'' a tragedy of fatherly love, features Placido Domingo, Sonya Yoncheva and Piotr Beczala.
Enjoy the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic’s annual open-air concert from Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace, featuring conductor Valery Gergiev and internationally acclaimed soprano Anna Netrebko as a guest soloist.
With this new special, Great Performances puts the spotlight on Botti and his band, capturing one of today’s leading jazz trumpeters at his peak.
Experience Massenet’s Cinderella with Joyce DiDonato in the title role, Alice Coote as Prince Charming, Kathleen Kim as the Fairy Godmother, and Stephanie Blythe as Madame de la Haltière. Bertrand de Billy conducts Laurent Pelly’s production.
A concert honors Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Queen, conductor John Williams, The Meters and other recipients of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement, Trustee and Music Educator awards.
The 2017 production of George Gershwin's "An American in Paris" features Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope.
A U.K. production of "The Sound of Music," the long-running musical about the von Trapp Family Singers and their escape from Austria at the height of Nazism.
Go behind-the-scenes of John Leguizamo’s Tony-nominated one-man show, Latin History for Morons, a comic but pointed look at how Hispanic culture has been portrayed and repressed throughout American history.
Revisit the legendary career of the pioneering Broadway producer and director, winner of 21 Tony Awards, with this retrospective celebration featuring Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Mandy Patinkin, John Kander, Susan Stroman, and Angela Lansbury.
In honor of Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday, Tanglewood—the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra—dedicated its entire 2018 season to the iconic composer, conductor, performer, educator and humanitarian.
Conducted by Nicola Luisotti, Aida stars vocal powerhouses Anna Netrebko in the title role and Anita Rachvelishvili as Amneris as they go toe to toe in this classic love story featuring a number of Verdi’s most celebrated arias. Aleksandrs Antonenko, Dmitry Belosselskiy and Ryan Speedo Green round out the cast. Sonja Frisell’s production is set in ancient Egypt, where Ethiopian princess Aida has been enslaved, but her royal identity remains a secret. The captured princess is in love with Radamès, the great warrior who dreams of leading the Egyptians to victory over the Ethiopians as a war between the two nations is on the horizon. Trouble arises as the Egyptian Pharaoh’s daughter Amneris sets her sights on winning Radamès’s love, but suspects he is infatuated with another woman after the warrior does not return her feelings. A rivalry ensues when Aida confesses her love for Radamès and Amneris vows revenge. Torn between a love for one another and loyalty to their respective countries, Aida and Radamès must battle public duties and private feelings in this epic love story. Isabel Leonard hosts.
Great Performances continues the cherished tradition of ringing in the new year with the Vienna Philharmonic at the opulent Musikverein. Under the baton of guest conductor Christian Thielemann, the celebration features favorite Strauss Family waltzes and the dancing of the Vienna State Ballet. Downton Abbey’s Earl of Grantham, Hugh Bonneville, returns as host.
Great Performances: The Cleveland Orchestra Centennial Celebration commemorates the centennial of the orchestra’s founding with a gala concert conducted by music director Franz Welser-Möst featuring works touching on more than a century of Viennese musical traditions. World-renowned, Grammy-nominated pianist Lang Lang joins the orchestra in a special performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24. The concert also features “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” (The Woman Without a Shadow), Symphonic Fantasy by Richard Strauss and Maurice Ravel’s viscerally cataclysmic “La Valse (The Waltz),” which dramatically evokes the changing artistic worlds between the 19th and 20th centuries.
Reimagine Christoph Willibald Gluck’s enduringly popular opera based on the famous Greek myth. From Lyric Opera of Chicago in collaboration with the Joffrey Ballet. Starring Dmitry Korchak, Andriana Chuchman and Lauren Snouffer.
Doubt unfolds as suspicion ignites a battle of wills at a Bronx Catholic school in 1964. The charismatic and progressive Father Flynn is trying to loosen the grip of St. Nicholas Church School’s strict customs, which are fiercely guarded by its iron-fisted principal, Sister Aloysius Beauvier. When the young and naïve Sister James shares her suspicion with the principal that Father Flynn may be abusing the school’s only African-American student, Sister Aloysius embarks on a personal crusade to discover the truth about the priest. With no proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius engages in a battle of wills with Father Flynn in this new opera.
With conductor Robert Spano, singers Isabel Leonard and Christopher Maltman star in composer Nico Muhly's reimagining of Winston Graham's "Marnie," a novel about a beautiful, but mysterious woman who assumes multiple identities.
Based on David Belasco’s play The Girl of the Golden West, Puccini’s American opera stars Eva-Maria Westbroek as the heroine Minnie alongside Jonas Kaufmann as the outlaw she loves, Dick Johnson. Željko Lučić, Carlo Bosi, Michael Todd Simpson, Matthew Rose and Oren Gradus round out the cast. Marco Armiliato conducts. Giancarlo del Monaco’s production is set during the California Gold Rush of the 19th century at the Polka Saloon, owned by Minnie. A strong and independent woman, Minnie has won the affection of the many men at the miners’ camp who frequent her saloon, including that of Jack Rance, the camp’s cynical sheriff. Later, a stranger enters the saloon and introduces himself as Dick Johnson. Minnie recognizes Dick as a man she once met on the road, but little does she know that he is actually Ramerrez, the notorious Mexican bandit on the run from authorities. Minnie and Dick begin a forbidden romance, but when his true identity is revealed, it is up to Minnie to save him in this western tale of sacrifice and redemption. Susanna Phillips hosts.
Join Great Performances for an international celebration of Andrea Bocelli’s 60th Birthday. World renowned for being equally at home in the worlds of popular music and opera, Great Performances spotlights both sides of the tenor’s career with a program of well-known arias spectacularly staged at Italy’s Arena di Verona. Also featured are songs from Bocelli’s new album, “Si,” performed at an all-white party in the picturesque Italian coastal town of Porto Venere. Bocelli’s son Matteo joins his father for a special performance of the duet “Fall on Me.”
The songs of legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell’s are among the most sublime musical landscapes of human emotion ever created. Mitchell’s unique musical and lyrical gifts are an unprecedented marriage of intimacy and universality, creating a sound that is incomparable, yet relatable to all.
With her unforgettable voice, Birgit Nilsson became the face of opera in the 1950s through the 1970s. She was best known for her groundbreaking turns in Wagner, Strauss, and Puccini operas such as Tristan und Isolde, Elektra, Turandot, Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Tannhäuser, and Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle). Showcasing her powerful voice paired with her outsized personality and wit, this illuminating documentary about Nilsson’s life in the arts features rare television and archival footage highlighting her remarkable talents. Shot in the locations that were close to Nilsson’s heart, including the Bayreuth Festival in Germany, the Vienna State Opera in Austria, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the farm in Båstad, Sweden where she grew up, the film also includes interviews with friends and fellow opera luminaries, including Plácido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Nina Stemme, Jonas Kaufmann and many others.
Watch Saint-Saëns’s biblical epic based on the tale of Samson and Delilah from the Book of Judges. Starring tenor Roberto Alagna and mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča in the title roles. Sir Mark Elder conducts.
Set in a women’s prison, Great Performances: Julius Caesar offers a powerful dramatization of the catastrophic consequences of a political leader’s extension of power beyond constitutional confines through an all-female lens. In this acclaimed Donmar Warehouse production directed Phyllida Lloyd (“The Iron Lady,” “Mamma Mia!”), Shakespeare’s famous discourse on power, loyalty and tragic idealism is heightened against the backdrop of female incarceration.
Conducted by new Metropolitan Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, La Traviata stars Diana Damrau in the pinnacle soprano role of Violetta alongside Juan Diego Flórez as her hapless lover Alfredo and Quinn Kelsey as his father Germont. Michael Mayer’s new production follows courtesan Violetta Valéry, who knows she will die soon and wishes to leave her professional life for a chance at love. After meeting the charming Alfredo Germont at a party, the two begin a relationship and move to the country in an effort to enjoy their love away from society. A tumultuous visit from Alfredo’s father, the bourgeois Giorgio Germont, casts doubt in Violetta’s heart for the future of their relationship, causing her to abandon their love nest. After seeing Violetta on the arm of a baron, a jealous Alfredo must fight for his love and reunite with her before it is too late. Anita Rachvelishvili hosts.
Cilea’s classic Adriana Lecouvreur starring Anna Netrebko in the title role of the real-life French actress, alongside Piotr Beczała as her lover Maurizio and Anita Rachvelishvili as her rival, the Princess of Bouillon. Carlo Bosi, Ambrogio Maestri, and Maurizio Muraro round out the cast. Gianandrea Noseda conducts. Sir David McVicar’s production takes place in 1730s Paris, where actress Adriana Lecouvreur is preparing for the stage. While alone, her director Michonnet professes his love to her, but Adriana informs him that she is in love with Maurizio, believing him to be an officer to the Count of Saxony. However, Maurizio is hiding two secrets; he is in fact the Count of Saxony himself, and he is also having an affair with the Princess of Bouillon, who has helped him pursue his political ambitions. Following a chance meeting at a party and subsequent escape plot, Adriana and the princess realize they are both in love with Maurizio but do not immediately recognize one another. Now rivals, Adriana and the princess are determined to discover one another’s identity while doing whatever it takes to win Maurizio’s heart. Matthew Polenzani hosts.
Mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine reprises her remarkable portrayal of opera’s ultimate seductress, a triumph in her 2017 debut performances, with impassioned tenor Roberto Alagna as her lover, Don José. Louis Langrée conducts Sir Richard Eyre’s powerful production, a Met favorite since its 2009 premiere.
Watch Donizetti’s romantic comedy about a budding military relationship starring Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena in a feast of bel canto vocal fireworks. Special guest Kathleen Turner makes her Met debut. Enrique Mazzola conducts.
Experience a Wagnerian event for the ages starring Christine Goerke as the willful warrior Brünnhilde alongside Stuart Skelton, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Greer Grimsley. Philippe Jordan conducts.
Enjoy the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic’s annual concert from Schönbrunn Palace with guest conductor Gustavo Dudamel and famed pianist Yuja Wang playing works including Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue" and Sousa’s "The Stars and Stripes Forever."
Poulenc’s classic Dialogues des Carmélites. Metropolitan Opera Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts this devastating story of faith and martyrdom starring Isabel Leonard in the touching role of Blanche de la Force alongside Adrianne Pieczonka as Madame Lidoine, Erin Morley as Sister Constance, Karen Cargill as Mother Marie and Karita Mattila, returning to the Met as Madame de Croissy, the prioress of the monastery.
Scott Yoo crosses Northern Italy, chasing the story of one of the most recorded pieces of music in the world, Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” and discovers how the composer merged religious melodies, opera and a new level of violin playing to launch a new era of music.
Scott Yoo goes to Germany to learn Bach’s sonatas and partitas, widely considered among the greatest works ever written for solo violin. There, he discovers a riddle Bach left behind in his portrait. In trying to solve it, Scott discovers that Bach based his melodic style on Vivaldi and his rhythms on the music of the French court, which leads to a spectacular finale in Paris.
Join Scott in Spain and Morocco to discover the greatest composer you’ve never heard of: Domenico Scarlatti. He was the finest keyboard player in Europe, hired by the Queen of Spain as her personal instructor. Scarlatti incorporated the sounds of Spain – Moorish, Jewish, Gypsy, folk, dance and guitar – to create a new musical language that inspired generations of musicians after him.
The 1981 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, 42nd Street is the song and dance, American dream fable of Broadway, featuring the iconic songs “42nd Street,” “We’re In the Money,” “Lullaby of Broadway,” “Shuffle Off To Buffalo,” “I Only Have Eyes For You” and many more. This all-singing and all-tapping musical extravaganza includes a cast of nearly 60 people. Young Peggy Sawyer is fresh off the bus from small-town America and just another face in the chorus line on Broadway’s newest show. But when the leading lady gets injured, Peggy just might have the shot at the top she’s always dreamed of. Starring Bonnie Langford as Broadway diva Dorothy Brock alongside Tom Lister as the demanding director Julian Marsh, Clare Halse as the ingénue Peggy Sawyer and Philip Bertioli as Billy Lawlor, this revival of director-choreographer Gower Champion’s original production was recorded at the end of its 2018 blockbuster run in London’s West End, with musical staging and new choreography by Tony nominee Randy Skinner (“Dames at Sea”) and directed by Mark Bramble, co-author of the book for the original Broadway and West End productions and director of the 2001 Tony Award-winning revival.
Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe star in a Tony Award-winning revival of the beloved musical about a British schoolteacher instructing the royal children of the King of Siam, featuring classic songs including “Hello, Young Lovers” and “Shall We Dance.”
Under the watchful gaze of his young assistant—and the growing competitive presence of a new generation of artists—Rothko takes on his greatest career challenge yet: to create a definitive series of paintings for the Philip Johnson-designed Four Seasons restaurant in architect Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Seagram Building.
For the first time in over four decades, Great Performances presents a Public Theater production recorded live at Free Shakespeare in the Park. After a highly successful, critically acclaimed run at the outdoor Delacorte Theater in New York City’s Central Park, "Much Ado About Nothing" is a bold interpretation of Shakespeare’s comedic masterpiece featuring Danielle Brooks as Beatrice.
Rejoice with the Tony Award-winning high-heeled hit musical with songs by pop icon Cyndi Lauper and a book by Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein about an unexpected duo that embraces their differences to create an extraordinary line of shoes.
Great Performances: Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert showcases the iconic rock opera featuring music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. EGOT winner John Legend leads the cast as Jesus Christ with Sara Bareilles as Mary Magdalene and rock legend Alice Cooper as King Herod. The musical recounts the biblical story of the final weeks of Jesus’ life, focusing on the relationship between Jesus and Judas (Brandon Victor Dixon). When Judas turns on his teacher, his fateful decision sets both men on a path to tragedy. Also featured in the cast is Ben Daniels as Pontius Pilate, Broadway’s Norm Lewis (“Once on This Island,” “The Phantom of the Opera”) as Caiaphas, Jin Ha as Annas, Jason Tam as Peter, and Erik Grönwall as Simon Zealotes.
Great Performances: An Intimate Evening with David Foster presents a new concert special from 16-time GRAMMY Award-winning musician and producer David Foster. The starry evening features hit songs from Foster’s extensive musical career and includes special performances by renowned vocalists Katharine McPhee, Pia Toscano, Sheléa, Fernando Varela and Loren Allred. Laced with personal memories, humor and heart, Foster recounts the stories of how some of his greatest hits came to be, including Celine Dion’s “The Power of Love,” Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” Earth, Wind & Fire’s “After the Love is Gone,” Chicago’s “You’re the Inspiration” and more. Complete with behind-the-scenes archival images illustrating his collaborations with world-famous artists, Great Performances: An Intimate Evening with David Foster is a musical event to remember.
As the world welcomes a new decade, Great Performances continues the tradition of ringing in the New Year with the Vienna Philharmonic at Vienna’s famous Musikverein. Under the baton of three-time GRAMMY Award-winning guest conductor and Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andris Nelsons, the concert spotlights the talent of the Vienna State Ballet and the Vienna Philharmonic with beloved waltzes by Strauss and more. PBS favorite Hugh Bonneville (Masterpiece: Downton Abbey) returns as host for a third year, touring Musikverein’s archives, which hold the largest collection of Beethoven manuscripts in the world, the Beethoven museum and other locations associated with the legendary composer in honor of his 250th birthday (December 17, 2020).
Season 14 of Great Performances at the Met premieres with Massenet’s French tale Manon. Soprano Lisette Oropesa stars as Manon, alongside tenor Michael Fabiano as Chevalier des Grieux, and Artur Ruciński (Lescaut), Brett Polegato (de Brétigny), Kwangchul Youn (Comte des Grieux) and Carlo Bosi (Guillot de Morfontaine) round out the cast. Maurizio Benini conducts. Laurent Pelly’s production is set in France and begins with Lescaut waiting for the arrival of his young cousin Manon, who is on her way to enter a convent. Awaiting her coach, Manon is excited about her first journey away from home. Chevalier des Grieux arrives late and misses the coach to Paris. He sees Manon and falls in love instantly. She tells him that her fondness for pleasure led her family to send her to a convent. Looking to escape her future life as a nun, Manon and des Grieux escape together in Guillot de Morfontaine’s coach to Paris. In an effort to marry Manon, des Grieux writes to Manon’s father. Lescaut, using the argument of family honor offended, berates des Grieux for having abducted Manon, since Lescaut is trying to profit by setting Manon up with de Brétigny, a nobleman. De Brétigny informs Manon that Comte des Grieux is planning to kidnap him that evening; if she does nothing to prevent it, de Brétigny will give her a life of wealth and luxury. Torn between the two men, Manon must choose between a life of luxury and wealth with de Brétigny or a life with her love des Grieux. Soprano Nadine Sierra hosts.
Soprano Hui He takes on the title role of the doomed geisha, with tenor Andrea Carè as the naval officer who abandons her, in this version of Anthony Minghella's production.
Enjoy Puccini's famed final opera with this epic fairytale production set in China from Franco Zeffirelli starring soprano Christine Goerke in the title role. Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts.
Experience composer Philip Glass’ visionary masterpiece portraying the impact of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhnaten as he rises to the throne. Stars Anthony Roth Costanzo in the title role. Karen Kamensek conducts.
Experience iconic Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli in an Easter Sunday concert from Milan’s historic cathedral. With the city under lockdown due to COVID-19, the singer performs “Ave Maria,” “Amazing Grace” and more accompanied only by an organist.
Experience artist William Kentridge’s interpretation of Berg’s tragic opera set in an apocalyptic pre-World War I environment. Peter Mattei stars in the title role. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.
Celebrate the centennial of this landmark orchestra with “La Valse” by Ravel, Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” and more led by three renowned LA Phil conductors: current Music and Artistic director Gustavo Dudamel, Zubin Mehta and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
The Ravinia Festival's production of Leonard Bernstein's Mass features baritone Paulo Szot, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Highland Park High School Marching Band.
Experience Handel’s black comedy of intrigue and impropriety in this production from David McVicar set in present-day Rome. Joyce DiDonato stars as the cunning title character with Harry Bicket at the baton.
Enjoy a powerful and revealing look at legendary, larger-than-life Texas governor Ann Richards who enriched the lives of her followers, friends and family in this critically acclaimed play written by and starring Emmy Award-winner Holland Taylor.
Experience playwright Emily Mann’s unique interpretation of feminist icon Gloria Steinem’s life, performed by an all-female cast starring Emmy Award winner Christine Lahti and directed by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus.
Experience Wagner’s eerie early masterpiece telling the tale of the sea captain cursed to sail for eternity. François Girard’s new production stars Evgeny Nikitin in the title role opposite Anja Kampe in her Met debut. Valery Gergiev conducts.
Enjoy this classic American folk opera that brings 1920s Charleston to life with a beloved score from George Gershwin in a new production directed by James Robinson. Eric Owens and Angel Blue star in the title roles and David Robertson conducts.
Sir David McVicar’s new production of Puccini’s classic stars Sonya Yoncheva, Vittorio Grigolo and Željko Lučić. Opera diva Tosca must rescue her revolutionary lover Cavaradossi from the depraved police chief Scarpia. Isabel Leonard hosts.
The first-ever Met production of Donizetti’s opera stars Joyce DiDonato as Mary, Queen of Scots with South African soprano Elza van den Heever as Elizabeth I, Mary’s formidable rival, and Matthew Polenzani as the Earl of Leicester.
Enjoy the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of selections by Strauss, Wagner, Offenbach, Puccini and more from the Schönbrunn Palace Gardens under the baton of conductor Valery Gergiev featuring Metropolitan Opera tenor Jonas Kaufmann.
Experience a ballet of Shakespeare’s classic from choreographer Kenneth MacMillan performed by dancers from The Royal Ballet set to a score by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev filmed on atmospheric locations throughout Budapest.
Explore the work of famed composer Joseph Haydn’s career with host Scott Yoo and featured guest artists as he discovers how Haydn borrowed folk music from Scotland, Hungary and Austria to create his famous “Emperor Quartet.”
Celebrate the work of Franz Schubert with host Scott Yoo as he plays with young musicians establishing themselves in North America's musical capitals by attempting to master the composer’s music.
Travel with host Scott Yoo and pianist Stewart Goodyear as they visit Yoo’s Festival Mozaic where Goodyear learns to direct an orchestra from the piano while improvising the solos of Mozart’s twentieth piano concerto.
A spotlight to the winners of the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award, including Iggy Pop, Roberta Flack, Chicago, John Prine, and more.
Featuring a Tony Award-winning performance by CBS Late Late Show host James Corden, the hilarious West End and Broadway hit One Man, Two Guvnors by playwright Richard Bean delighted critics and audiences alike during its West End and Broadway productions in 2011 and 2012.
Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles is the first documentary to chronicle the complete story of the international Broadway blockbuster musical “Fiddler on the Roof” by exploring the unexpected richness of its themes as well as its extensive reach across time and cultures. “Fiddler on the Roof” is the tale of Jewish immigrants coming to America, of immigrants and refugees trying to escape persecution in their homeland, of the fraying of tradition, generational tension and the loss of roots. Featuring rare archival footage, the documentary also includes personal experiences and insights into the show’s timeless impact from “Fiddler on the Roof” composer and lyricist Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick as well commentary from former cast and creative members along with famous fans impacted by the musical, including Joel Grey, Topol, Harvey Fierstein, Harold Prince, Itzhak Perlman, Stephen Sondheim, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and many others.
Roundabout Theatre Company’s festive production of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn – The Broadway Musical returns to GREAT PERFORMANCES for a special seasonal encore. Inspired by the 1942 Academy Award-winning film starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, Holiday Inn tells the story of Jim, a song & dance man who decides to leave Broadway’s bright lights to settle down at a Connecticut farmhouse. But country life isn’t quite what he expects until he meets Linda, the schoolteacher next door with talent to spare. Together, they turn his farmhouse into a seasonal inn with show-stopping performances to celebrate each holiday. But when Jim’s best friend Ted tries to lure Linda away to be his new Hollywood dance partner, will Jim be able to salvage another chance at love? Starring Bryce Pinkham, Lora Lee Gayer and Corbin Bleu, the score’s back-to-back Irving Berlin hits include “Cheek to Cheek,” “Easter Parade,” “White Christmas” and many more.
Captured in peak performance with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tony Award-winner Lea Salonga performs the beloved songs she made famous throughout her Broadway career, as well as her signature songs from the animated movie blockbusters “Aladdin” and “Mulan” from the Sydney Opera House.
As the world eagerly bids farewell to 2020, Great Performances continues its beloved tradition of ringing in the New Year with the Vienna Philharmonic at the world-famous Musikverein. PBS favorite Hugh Bonneville (Masterpiece: Downton Abbey) returns as host for a fourth year with Riccardo Muti as guest conductor for the sixth time. The Vienna Philharmonic orchestra performs favorite waltzes by Strauss, and the celebration features the Vienna State Ballet dancing on location from notable Vienna landmarks. Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Bonneville will host the concert remotely from England on location at Goodwood House, the country estate of the Duke and Duchess of Richmond and Gordon, located north of Chichester.
Explore the legacy of superstar Maria Callas in this documentary detailing her 1964 comeback at London’s Royal Opera House in “Tosca,” featuring insights from fans including Rufus Wainwright and opera stars Thomas Hampson and Kristine Opolais.
Experience legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz’s 1986 Russian homecoming for a sold-out concert of personal favorites, featuring commentary from former manager Peter Gelb and virtuoso pianists Martha Argerich and Daniil Trifonov.
Experience the beloved American soprano perform arias by Puccini and Massenet to selections by Handel and Korngold from the intimate music salon of Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C.
The superstar tenor sings a program of classic arias from the Baroque interior of the historic Polling Abbey located in the Bavarian countryside outside Munich, Germany. Selections from this performance include “Nessun dorma” from “Turandot,” “E lucevan le stelle” from “Tosca,” “Ah! lève-toi, soleil” from “Roméo et Juliette,” “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée” and many more.
An original film for television by the National Theatre. Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director Simon Godwin directs a film interpretation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" set in modern-day Italy. Starring Josh O’Connor as Romeo and Jessie Buckley as Juliet.
The soprano performs arias and songs that brought her success around the world including selections from Wagner’s “Tannhäuser,” Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos,” Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” and more from Oslo’s Oscarshall Palace in Norway.
Recorded in August, the married tenor and soprano duo perform arias and duets from the Château de la Chèvre d’Or perched on a cliff in the South of France. selections performed include the love duet from “Madama Butterfly,” the hilarious “Caro elisir” from “L’Elisir d’Amore,” and the Mexican favorite “Cielito Lindo.”
Enjoy the songs of the internationally beloved tenor’s 2020 album recorded on location in Malta. Selections performed include “Gratia Plena,” a duet with Cecilia Bartoli, and new interpretations of “Ave Maria” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”
Experience an all-star concert honoring the early years of Fleetwood Mac and founding member Peter Green at the London Palladium featuring artists including Pete Townshend, Steven Tyler, David Gilmour, Noel Gallagher, Christine McVie and more.
Recorded in February from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, the megastar performs Russian songs by Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tchaikovsky as well as selections by Debussy, Dvořák, Fauré and Strauss. Accompanied by Pavel Nebolsin on piano, the program also features mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova for duets from Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” and more.
Experience a new performance by the American mezzo-soprano from the art-nouveau Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum, Germany, featuring Baroque works by Handel as well as songs like “La vie en rose” and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Met Opera Stars Diana Damrau and Joseph Calleja perform works by Verdi, Bizet, Rossini and more from the Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy, accompanied by Vincenzo Scalera on piano. Soprano Angel Blue hosts.
Experience the music director of the Metropolitan Opera’s meteoric rise to become one of the most acclaimed and sought-after music directors of his generation in this documentary from cinema verité filmmaker Susan Froemke.
Honor the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with this special performance hosted by Misty Copeland and led by Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin featuring soloists Ailyn Pérez, Michelle DeYoung, Matthew Polenzani and Eric Owens.
Experience Hans Christian Andersen’s dark fairytale from acclaimed director-choreographer Matthew Bourne with this Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation starring Ashley Shaw, Adam Cooper, Dominic North and Michaela Meazza.
From the historic Stadthalle in Wuppertal, Germany, recorded in January, this world-famous soprano-tenor pair perform arias and duets from some of their many performances at the Met including Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier,” Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” “Luisa Miller” and Dvořák’s “Rusalka," accompanied by Vincenzo Scalera on piano.
Three-time GRAMMY winner Isabel Leonard joins Nadine Sierra and Ailyn Pérez to perform timeless selections by Mozart, Offenbach and Bizet including “Voi che sapete” and “Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour” along with beloved songs like “Bésame Mucho” and “Cielito Lindo.” The concert was recorded in May at the Royal Opera of Versailles in France and Met Opera soprano Christine Goerke hosts.
Go inside the mind of a genius as host Scott Yoo and fellow musicians undertake a recording of Beethoven's most personal music at a historic Berkshires manor to explore the composer’s brilliant career—where they are visited by some unexpected guests.
Recorded in May, a quartet of some of opera’s most powerful and dramatic singers comes together at the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, Germany. Sopranos Christine Goerke and Elza van den Heever, tenor Andreas Schager, and baritone Michael Volle perform a program of selections by Wagner and Strauss.
Experience a concert of works by legendary composer John Williams from Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home at Tanglewood including Williams’ new violin concerto performed by virtuoso Anne-Sophie Mutter and other works conducted by Andris Nelsons.
Celebrate opening night of San Francisco Symphony’s 110th season as it welcomes its new GRAMMY-winning music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, featuring music by John Adams, esperanza spalding & Wayne Shorter and performances by Alonzo King LINES Ballet.
Enjoy this contemporary reboot of the 1870 classical ballet favorite. Blending live action ballet with CGI, the film features ballet stars Michaela DePrince and Daniel Camargo.
Enjoy this special encore of Natalie Cole’s Emmy-winning concert of her GRAMMY-winning album in Great Performances: Unforgettable With Love - Natalie Cole. Featuring classics such as “Mona Lisa,” “The Very Thought of You” and “For Sentimental Reasons,” the concert also features a special performance of Nat King Cole’s signature song “Unforgettable” sung as a duet by Natalie Cole and her father.
Recorded December 2020, the legendary bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel performs a holiday program accompanied by Jeff Howard on piano and the Welsh traditional folk group Calan from Brecon Cathedral in the singer’s native Wales.
The Met rings in the new year with a gala performance featuring stars Angel Blue, Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena and Matthew Polenzani. Performing from the Parktheater in Kurhaus Göggingen in Augsburg, Germany, the program features arias, duets and ensembles from Donizetti to Puccini, as well as arrangements of operetta and Neapolitan songs.
Ring in the new year in Austria at the Musikverein with the Vienna Philharmonic and host Hugh Bonneville in this annual concert of waltzes by Strauss and more under the baton of guest conductor Daniel Barenboim.
Go behind the scenes of Broadway as shows reunite, rehearse and re-stage for their long-awaited reopening nights while the theater industry learns how to turn the lights back on after its longest hiatus in history due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bass René Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between ambition and paranoia. Conductor Sebastian Weigle leads Mussorgsky’s Russian masterwork in its original 1869 version. Stephen Wadsworth’s production captures the hope and suffering of the Russian people as well as the tsar himself. Met Opera soprano Angel Blue hosts.
The ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, who attempts to harness the power of music to rescue his beloved Eurydice from the Underworld, has inspired composers since opera’s earliest days. With a libretto by Sarah Ruhl adapted from her acclaimed 2003 play, the opera reimagines the familiar tale from Eurydice’s point of view.
First broadcast on PBS in 2018, Movies for Grownups Awards with AARP the Magazine returns for a fifth year to celebrate and encourage filmmaking with unique appeal to movie-lovers with a grownup state of mind—and recognize the inspiring artists who make them. Each year the centerpiece honor is the Career Achievement Award, celebrating the contributions cinema legends.
Follow Marin Alsop’s journey to become the first female music director of a major American symphony despite repeated rejection by the classical music industry. Features archival footage with her mentor Leonard Bernstein and is set to a soundtrack of her performances.
Experience Grammy-winning composer Terence Blanchard and librettist Kasi Lemmon’s adaptation of Charles M. Blow’s memoir. James Robinson and Camille A. Brown co-direct with Brown also choreographing. Baritone Will Liverman stars with soprano Angel Blue.
Host Scott Yoo and his wife, flutist Alice Dade, perform the work of Romantic era classical composer Amy Beach at Festival Mosaic and uncover Beach’s many musical influences. Featuring performances of Beach’s works, the duo visits places Beach took inspiration from throughout her life, including an artist residency at MacDowell in New Hampshire.
From Little Rock to Chicago, host Scott Yoo follows the trail of the great African American composer Florence Price.
Scott Yoo explores the life and work of Aaron Copland, and how he created the American sound.
Scott Yoo discovers how American composers are inspired by their immigrant roots today through two composers: Brazilian-born Sergio Assad and Indian American Reena Esmail.
Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard stars as the rags-to-riches princess in Laurent Pelly’s storybook staging of Massenet’s “Cendrillon.” Featuring an all-new English translation by Kelley Rourke and conducted by Maestro Emmanuel Villaume, the cast also includes mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo as Cinderella’s Prince Charming, soprano Jessica Pratt as her Fairy Godmother, and more.
Enjoy this London production of Cole Porter’s classic musical led by Sutton Foster who reprises her Tony-winning role as Reno Sweeney directed by Kathleen Marshall with favorite songs like “I Get A Kick Out of You” and “You’re the Top.”
Experience Shakespeare’s comedic masterpiece from the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. Set in South Harlem, the play tells the story of the trickster Falstaff and the wily wives who outwit him in a celebration of Black joy, laughter and vitality.
Take an inside look at the reimagined gender-swapped production as it returns to Broadway during the COVID-19 pandemic. Features new interviews with Tony and Grammy-winning cast members Katrina Lenk, Patti LuPone, Sondheim and more.
Baritone Quinn Kelsey portrays the title role at the Met for the first time, starring alongside soprano Rosa Feola as Gilda and tenor Piotr Beczała as the Duke of Mantua. Maestro Daniele Rustioni leads Verdi’s timeless tragedy reset in 1920s Europe by Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher. Varduhi Abrahamyan plays Maddalena and Andrea Mastroni plays Sparafucile.
Soprano Lise Davidsen brings one of her signature roles to the Met for the first time as the mythological Greek heroine of Strauss’ masterpiece.
For the first time in its history, the Met presents the original five-act French version of Verdi’s epic opera of doomed love among royalty, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition. Watch this starry cast including tenor Matthew Polenzani in the title role, soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Élisabeth de Valois and Jamie Barton as Eboli.
Enjoy the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual summer night concert with cellist Gautier Capuçon under the direction of guest conductor Andris Nelsons at Austria’s Schönbrunn Palace.
Enjoy opera superstar Liudmyla Monastyrska in the title role of the legendary cold-hearted princess. Marco Armiliato conducts Puccini’s score with tenor Yonghoon Lee as Calàf, the bold prince determined to win the princess' love. Nadine Sierra hosts.
Enjoy the talent of Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva as she performs arias by Verdi, Puccini and more from the Baroque Library in Schussenried Cloister in southwest Germany accompanied by Julien Quentin on piano.
Explore Shakespeare’s love life through the perspective of the “Dark Lady” in this work from Nashville Ballet based on poetry by Caroline Randall Williams and featuring an original score by GRAMMY winner Rhiannon Giddens.
Experience the story of seamstress Esther who begins writing to a mysterious suitor laboring on the Panama Canal. Featuring a libretto by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, this powerful opera is directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher.
Soprano Nadine Sierra returns to the stage in one of the most formidable and storied roles, the haunted heroine Lucia di Lammermoor, in a production with new staging by Australian theater and film director Simon Stone, conducted by Riccardo Frizza.
This contemporary opera directed by Neil Armfield and composed by Brett Dean first premiered at the Glyndebourne Festival to critical acclaim with many of the original cast members returning to reprise their roles, including tenor Allan Clayton in the title role, soprano Brenda Rae as Ophelia, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly as Gertrude, baritone Rod Gilfry as Claudius and bass John Tomlinson as the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Nicholas Carter makes his Met debut as conductor. Hosted by Christine Goerke.
The New York Philharmonic celebrates the reopening of its fully renovated home at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall with a triumphant performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, conducted by the Phil’s Music Director Jaap van Zweden. Also featured is the world premiere of a NYPhil commission by Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón. The opening of the state-of-the-art facility will reaffirm the essential role of New York City’s cultural life, as well as mark a historic comeback for the world’s most dynamic city for the arts following the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Experience the world-renowned baritone performing songs from many musical genres alongside several special guest stars including Cyndi Lauper, Denée Benton, New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck and more.
Celebrate the new year with this annual classical music celebration featuring waltzes by Strauss from the opulent Musikverein hosted by PBS favorite Hugh Bonneville.
Iconic and beloved screen and stage performer Alan Cumming returns as host for this awards show in which two-time Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee Jamie Lee Curtis receives the Career Achievement Award.
Glimpse behind the curtain at opera legends Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman’s famed concert at Carnegie Hall on March 18, 1990, featuring performance clips and new interviews with opera star Angel Blue, Met Opera General Manager Peter Gelb and more.
Experience Academy Award nominee David Strathairn as reluctant World War II hero and Holocaust witness, Jan Karski, in this one-man true story of moral courage and individual responsibility.
Renée Fleming makes her return to the Met with Kelli O'Hara and Joyce DiDonato in this new opera from a Pulitzer Prize–winning composer inspired by Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.”
Nadine Sierra stars as the opera’s heroine, the self-sacrificing courtesan Violetta, with tenor Stephen Costello in the role of her self-centered lover, Alfredo, with baritone Luca Salsi as Alfredo’s disapproving father. Michael Mayer’s vibrant production is conducted by Daniele Callegari. Renée Fleming hosts.
Tango to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with host Scott Yoo and flutist Alice Dade to explore the evolution of composer Astor Piazzolla’s work and the music genre itself as it becomes fused with jazz across time and numerous instruments.
Visit Scotland, Germany and France with host Scott Yoo as he investigates the connection between Robert Schumann’s bipolar disorder and creative genius via experts, musical performances and examining the work of other artists outside world of music.
Experience the creation of music from this Japanese American composer with host Scott Yoo using “found” instruments. To develop a music video, the two visit New York City and explore the creative process with an interactive light show and more.
Host Scott Yoo, guitarist Manuel Barrueco and pianist Juan Pérez Floristán discuss how Albéniz's work was influenced by Spain. Then, the musicians play Albéniz's "Asturias."
Back at the Met for the first time in 25 years, Umberto Giordano’s drama stars soprano Sonya Yoncheva in the title role, a 19th-century Russian princess who falls in love with her fiancé’s murderer, Count Loris, sung by star tenor Piotr Beczała. Soprano Rosa Feola is the Countess Olga, Fedora’s confidant, and baritone Artur Ruciński is the diplomat De Siriex.
Enjoy a revue of milestone Broadway shows and songs from 1973 to 2023 hosted by two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster. Features performances by André De Shields, Chita Rivera, Vanessa Williams and more from Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater.
Starring Danai Gurira (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “The Walking Dead”) in the title role with Tony Award winner Ali Stroker (“Oklahoma!”) as Anne, Tony Award nominee Robert O’Hara (Broadway’s “Slave Play”) directs this Shakespearean tragedy spotlighting one of The Bard’s most indelible villains as part of Great Performances’ 50th anniversary season.
Sondra Radvanovsky portrays the mythic sorceress in this Met premiere of Cherubini’s rarely performed masterpiece.
Tenor Piotr Beczała leads the cast in the title role of the mysterious swan knight, with soprano Tamara Wilson as the virtuous duchess Elsa, falsely accused of murder, and soprano Christine Goerke as the cunning sorceress Ortrud. Bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin is Ortrud’s power-hungry husband, Telramund, and bass Günther Groissböck is King Heinrich.
Verdi’s Shakespearean comedy features an ensemble cast in Robert Carsen’s staging, with baritone Michael Volle performing in his first Verdi role at the Met as the knight Falstaff, tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance.
Performed from Highland Park’s Ravinia Festival, Great Performances presents legendary composer Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish symphony featuring the talent of Uniting Voices (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir), Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Great Performances presents the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s summer night concert from Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. Focusing on musical works from French Romanticism to Impressionism, the orchestra is led for the first time by Metropolitan Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Strauss’s grand Viennese comedy includes soprano Lise Davidsen as the aging Marschallin, opposite mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as her lover Octavian and soprano Erin Morley as Sophie, the beautiful younger woman who steals his heart. Bass Günther Groissböck returns as the churlish Baron Ochs, and Markus Brück is Sophie’s wealthy father, Faninal.
Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove makes his Met debut with a new take on Mozart’s tragicomedy. Maestro Nathalie Stutzmann also makes her Met debut, conducting the cast led by baritone Peter Mattei in the title role alongside bass-baritone Adam Plachetka as Leporello.
Captured in peak performance at Madrid’s Teatro Real, New York City Ballet performs two masterpieces choreographed by NYCB co-founder and original Artistic Director George Balanchine, “Serenade” and “Square Dance" as well as a piece by current resident choreographer Justin Peck.
Experience five-time Olivier Award nominee Kate Prince’s dance and theater show set to the songs of 17-time Grammy winner Sting. Telling the story of a migrant family, the show from London’s Sadler's Wells Theatre features a mix of dance styles.
Six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard returns to the Met with an opera based on the true story of boxer Emile Griffith, who rose from obscurity to become a world champion despite being a closeted bisexual.
Celebrate the New Year with waltzes by Strauss and more performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra led by guest conductor Christian Thielemann. PBS favorite Hugh Bonneville returns to host.
Experience Anthony Davis’s groundbreaking opera directed by Tony nominee Robert O’Hara. The new staging portrays Malcolm as an Everyman whose story transcends time and space. Supported by a cast of young Met stars, Will Liverman sings Malcolm X.
Celebrate 20 years at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the LA Phil in a tribute to its architect. Led by Gustavo Dudamel, the concert includes a piece composed and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, performances by Herbie Hancock and H.E.R., and more.
Honor one of the most beloved stars in country music history with this all-star tribute concert featuring Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Wynonna, Jelly Roll, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, Lorrie Morgan, Justin Moore, Trace Adkins and more.
Experience Ivo van Hove’s production of composer Jake Heggie’s opera in its Met premiere. With a libretto by Terrence McNally, Joyce DiDonato stars as Sister Helen based on the real-life memoir about her fight for the soul of a condemned murderer.
Inspired by the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez, Mexican composer Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera tells the story of an opera diva who returns to her native South America to perform at the legendary opera house of Manaus—and to search for her lost lover, who has vanished into the jungle. Starring soprano Ailyn Pérez, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Mary Zimmerman’s new production.
Visit Juilliard Pre-College with Scott Yoo to play with some of tomorrow’s virtuosos and travel to Singapore to meet rising star, Chloe Chua, who reminds Yoo of the dedication and passion required to prepare for a professional career.
Explore the work of two legendary virtuosos, Niccolò Paganini and Robert Johnson, along with stars of today, Augustin Hadelich and Keb' Mo'. Joined by Cirque du Soleil acrobats, discover the secrets of being a virtuoso.
Explore how virtuosos become maestros and discover their guiding principles through host Scott Yoo’s long friendships with Grammy winner Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Richard Kogan and violinist Lynn Chang.
Follow host Scott Yoo’s journey to compose a piece of music for the first time. Seeking counsel from other composers, Yoo revisits his heritage in search of ideas, performs landmark pieces for inspiration and ultimately tests his work in progress.
Ancient Babylon comes to life in this production of Verdi’s early masterpiece. Baritone George Gagnidze makes his Met role debut as the imperious king Nabucco, alongside soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska reprising her turn as his vengeful daughter, Abigaille. Daniele Callegari conducts and Angel Blue hosts.
From The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, experience this Shakespearean classic directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon featuring Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (“Slave Play”) in the title role and Solea Pfeiffer as Ophelia (“Hadestown”).
The winner of a record-breaking six Tony Awards as well as two Grammy awards and an Emmy, Audra McDonald performs a repertoire of classic Broadway songs, including “I Am What I Am,” “Summertime,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” and many more.
Starring Leslie Odom Jr., this comedic play tells the story of a Black preacher’s scheme to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church from a plantation owner.
Directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 80th Anniversary features an all-star cast at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane, including Michael Ball, Daniel Dae Kim, Maria Friedman, Audra McDonald, Julian Ovenden and more.
Acclaimed English director Carrie Cracknell makes her Met debut, resetting the classic story to the modern day that moves the focus to issues that could not be more relevant today: gendered violence, abusive labor structures, and the desire to break through societal boundaries.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Verdi’s grand tale of love, deadly vendetta, and family strife with soprano Lise Davidsen starring as Leonora, one of the repertory’s most tormented heroines.
Soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor Benjamin Bernheim portray Shakespeare’s famed star-crossed lovers in Gounod’s adaptation with Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the podium. Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher directs and Ryan Speedo Green hosts.
Enjoy the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic’s annual open-air concert from the gardens of Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace, featuring Andris Nelsons as guest conductor joined by soprano Lise Davidsen as guest soloist.
Puccini’s love story stars soprano Angel Blue as the French courtesan Magda, opposite tenor Jonathan Tetelman in his Met Opera debut as Ruggero, an idealistic young man who offers her an alternative to her life of excess. Maestro Speranza Scappucci conducts Nicolas Joël’s art deco–inspired staging, which transports audiences from the heart of Parisian nightlife to the French Riviera.
WATCH PREVIEW Soprano Asmik Grigorian stars as Cio-Cio-San in her Met Opera debut as the loyal geisha at the heart of Puccini’s devastating tragedy. Tenor Jonathan Tetelman stars the callous American naval officer Pinkerton, whose betrayal destroys her. Acclaimed maestro Xian Zhang makes her Met debut conducting Anthony Minghella’s vivid production, and Anthony Roth Costanzo hosts.
Enjoy this semi-staged oratorio with the New York Philharmonic and an international cast telling the story of Jewish refugees in World War II Shanghai set to music by Aaron Zigman with lyrics by Mark Campbell and additional lyrics by Brock Walsh.
Explore Peter Sellars' San Francisco Opera production of John Adams' "Girls of the Golden West" set during Gold Rush. Go behind the scenes with cast members Julia Bullock, J'Nai Bridges and others as they bring the show to life on stage.
Experience the music of Patsy Cline in a star-studded tribute concert featuring Wynonna and more.
Celebrate the centennial birthday of composer Henry Mancini with Michael Bublé, Cynthia Erivo, saxophonist Dave Koz, Monica Mancini and host Jeff Goldblum featuring Mancini’s signature songs and clips from his beloved movies and TV shows.
Experience this annual beloved concert from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss. Conducted by Riccardo Muti for the seventh time, PBS favorite Hugh Bonneville returns to host.
