Purlie Victorious Leslie Odom Jr and cast

Great Performances

Arts and Music Series / 5 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 E14

54m 24s / TV-G

San Francisco Symphony at 100

5m

San Francisco Symphony's Centennial Season opening night gala, conducted by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, will air Friday, March 30 at 9 p.m. (check local listings). The two-hour broadcast is hosted by author Amy Tan and features Tilson Thomas conducting the Orchestra and two of the leading artists of our time: legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman and the dynamic pianist Lang Lang.

The Thomashefskys

36s / TV-PG

The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater, a celebration of Yiddish theater pioneers Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky by their grandson, Michael Tilson Thomas, Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, airs Thursday, March 29 at 8 p.m. (check local listings), on THIRTEEN's Great Performances.

Images from Satyagraha

1m 33s / TV-PG

"Almost all the techniques of protest--now the common currency of contemporary political life--were invented and perfected by Gandhi during his South Africa years," Philip Glass has said. See stills from the revival of Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch's 2008 innovative production of Satyagraha, Glass' opera covering Gandhi's early life in South Africa.

Satyagraha

30s / TV-PG

Philip Glass's inspirational opera Satyagraha (Sanskrit for "truth force"), in the first revival of Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch's innovative 2008 production, airs on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, March 25 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). In New York, THIRTEEN will premiere the program Thursday, March 22 at 8:30 p.m. with an encore presentation Sunday, March 25 at 12:30 p.m.

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall

30s / TV-PG

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall, a fully-staged, lavish 25th anniversary mounting of Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running Broadway and West End extravaganza, comes to Great Performances in March (check local listings). Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess star in a spectacular presentation from the ornate London concert venue with a host of special guest stars at the conclusion.

Don Giovanni

30s / TV-PG

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, on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, February 26 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). In New York, THIRTEEN will air the program Thursday, February 23 at 9 p.m., with an encore Sunday, February 26 at 12:30 p.m.

Memphis

30s / TV-PG

Broadway's smash hit musical Memphis, winner of four Tony Awards(R) including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book and Best Orchestrations, comes to Great Performances Friday, February 24 at 9 p.m. (check local listings). Memphis is the first Best Musical Tony Award winner to air on U.S. national television with its original principals while continuing a successful Broadway run and national tour.

Tony Bennett: Duets II

30s / TV-PG

Tony Bennett: Duets II features the singer's greatest hits, performed by Bennett and today's biggest stars, including John Mayer, Michael Buble, k.d. lang, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Queen Latifah, Norah Jones, Josh Groban, Faith Hill, Alejandro Sanz, Carrie Underwood and more. The sessions air on Friday, January 27, 2012, at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

GP at the Met: Anna Bolena

30s / TV-PG

The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, starring soprano Anna Netrebko in her highly anticipated first North American performances of the tour-de-force title role, will be the 2012 season opener of Great Performances at the Met Friday, January 20 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).

Anna Deavere Smith Talks About "Let Me Down Easy"

2m

Anna Deavere Smith talks about the process by which her play "Let Me Down Easy" was created. Called "the most exciting individual in American theater" by Newsweek magazine, Smith turns her theatrical exploration to matters of the human body.

Paula Zahn Interviews Anna Deavere Smith

14m 40s / TV-G

Paula Zahn interviews Anna Deavere Smith about her play Let Me Down Easy. They discuss the development of the play in the 1990s to the present, how the politics of national health care organically became part of the piece, and Smith's favorite portrayals.

Let Me Down Easy

2m 54s / TV-14

Anna Deavere Smith's latest production, Let Me Down Easy airs on Great Performances Friday, January 13 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The Great Performances production was recorded in February 2011 in the Kreeger Theater at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, DC, launching a national tour that concluded in September.

Hancock, Dudamel & the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin

30s / TV-G

Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin, featuring that classic piece as well as "An American in Paris" and Hancock's unique improvisation on the great standard "Someone to Watch Over Me," airs on THIRTEEN's Great Performances Friday, January 6 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2012

30s / TV-G

Stage and screen legend Julie Andrews returns to host the annual New Year's celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic, under the direction of Mariss Jansons from Vienna's Musikverein. The famed Vienna Boys' Choir will add their celestial voices to the gala. From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2012 airs live Sunday, January 1 at 2:30 p.m. (check local listings) with an encore at 7:30 p.m.

Interview with The Mermaid

2m 55s

Meet Yuan Yuan Tan who dances the title role in San Francisco Ballet's The Little Mermaid and learn how she uses highly expressive movement to evoke her character's emotional turmoil. The Little Mermaid from San Francisco Ballet airs on Great Performances Friday, December 16, 2011 at 9 p.m. (check local listings) as part of the PBS Arts Fall Festival.

Interview with The Princess

3m 8s

Meet Sarah Van Patten who dances the role of The Princess in San Francisco Ballet's The Little Mermaid and learn how her technical execution informs her character. The Little Mermaid from San Francisco Ballet airs on Great Performances Friday, December 16, 2011 at 9 p.m. (check local listings) as part of the PBS Arts Fall Festival.

Interview with The Poet

3m 43s

Meet Lloyd Riggins who dances the role of the The Poet in San Francisco Ballet's The Little Mermaid and discover how his role, (based on the real life author Hans Christian Anderson), came to be part of the ballet. The Little Mermaid from San Francisco Ballet airs on Great Performances Friday, December 16, 2011 at 9 p.m. (check local listings) as part of the PBS Arts Fall Festival.

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