Purlie Victorious Leslie Odom Jr and cast

Great Performances

Arts and Music Series / 6 Seasons

Great Performances brings the best in the performing arts from across America and around the world to a US television audience. It presents a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

Watch Latest: S52 E3

1h 23m / TV-PG

Now Hear This "Amy Beach: American Romantic" Preview

30s

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.

Amy Beach's "Hermit Thrush At Morn" and "Beach Romance"

3m

Scott Yoo and pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute play Amy Beach's "Hermit Thrush At Morn" and "Beach Romance" at MacDowell, an artist residency that the composer frequented during her life. This piece is an homage to the scenery and wildlife of Petersborough, New Hampshire.

Fire Shut Up In My Bones Preview

30s

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.

Highlights: Fire Shut Up In My Bones

3m

Grammy-winning jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard’s adaptation of Charles M. Blow’s memoir marks the Met’s first performance of an opera by a Black composer and its first production back in its theater following the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. Featuring a libretto by filmmaker Kasi Lemmons, the opera tells the story of a young man’s journey to overcome a life of trauma and hardship.

The Conductor Preview

30s

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.

Tony Kushner and Rita Moreno Discuss "West Side Story"

4m 2s

Writer Tony Kushner and actress Rita Moreno discuss his winning screenplay for "West Side Story" as well as what went into reviving this classic tale for a modern audience.

Lily Tomlin Accepts Career Achievement Award

3m 19s

Lily Tomlin accepts the Career Achievement Award for her work in film and television at the Movies for Grownups Awards with AARP the Magazine. Lily Tomlin has led a storied career within the entertainment industry - earning eight Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Grammy Award.

Spotlighting Movies for Grownups Awards

1m 17s

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.

Movies for Grownups with AARP the Magazine Preview

30s

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.

Erin Morley Performs as Eurydice

2m 5s

Soprano Erin Morley sings an excerpt of the Act II aria "This is what it is to love an artist." The opera reimagines the famous Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice from Eurydice's point of view.

Great Performances at the Met: Eurydice Preview

30s

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.

Great Performances at the Met: Boris Godunov Preview

30s

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.

René Pape performs Scene VII of Boris Godunov

2m 29s

René Pape, playing the title character in Boris Godunov, performs a section of Scene VII. In Modest Mussorgsky's opera, the Russian Tsar finds himself caught between his own ambition and his growing paranoia.

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