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

In Memoriam: Remembering Elie Wiesel

2m 1s

GREAT PERFORMANCES mourns the passing of writer, professor, political activist, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, whose tireless work to document the Holocaust as well as defend human rights and victims of oppression everywhere was recognized with a Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

Great Performances at the Met: Turandot

30s

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.

'Before The Deluge' by Joan Baez and Jackson Browne

1m 56s

Joan Baez and Jackson Browne sing "Before The Deluge," a song written by Jackson Browne, during the Joan Baez 75th Birthday Celebration at the Beacon Theatre in New York on January 27, 2016.

Joan Baez with Indigo Girls and Mary Chapin Carpenter

1m 46s

Joan Baez, Indigo Girls and Mary Chapin Carpenter sing "The Water Is Wide," a traditional song rearranged by Joan Baez, during the Joan Baez 75th Birthday Celebration at the Beacon Theatre in New York on January 27, 2016.

GP at the Met: The Pearl Fishers promo

30s

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.

Joan Baez and Judy Collins Sing 'Diamonds and Rust'

1m 25s

Joan Baez and Judy Collins sing "Diamonds and Rust", a song written by Joan Baez, during the Joan Baez 75th Birthday Celebration at the Beacon Theatre in New York on January 27, 2016.

Joan Baez and David Crosby Sing 'Blackbird'

2m 32s

Joan Baez and David Crosby performed "Blackbird," a song written by Lennon–McCartney, during the Joan Baez 75th Birthday Celebration at the Beacon Theatre in New York on January 27, 2016.

Joan Baez 75th Birthday Celebration Preview

29s

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.

GP at the Met: Lulu

35s

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.

GP at the Met: Tannhäuser

35s

Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser comes to Great Performances at the Met for the first time and is conducted by James Levine. The Otto Schenk production gets its first Met revival in more than a decade. Johan Botha makes his Met role debut in the titular role; Eva-Maria Westbroek is Elisabeth; Michelle DeYoung is the goddess Venus; Peter Mattei is Wolfram; and Günther Groissböck is the Landgraf.

GP at the Met: Otello (2016) - Preview

35s

Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher’s acclaimed new Met Opera production is led by conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin with Aleksandrs Antonenko in his first Met performance as Otello, the tormented Moor of Venice, with Sonya Yoncheva in her role debut as his innocent wife, Desdemona. eljko Lu?i? is Otello’s sinister rival, Iago. Great Performances at the Met is now in its 10th season.

Anna Netrebko's Solo in GP at the Met: Il Trovatore

2m 16s

Soprano Anna Netrebko appears in her highly anticipated Met role debut as Leonora, the tortured heroine who sacrifices her own life for the love of the Gypsy troubadour in Verdi's opera, Il Trovatore. Netrebko sings Leonora's aria from Act IV --- "D'amor sull'ali rosee" --- at the final dress rehearsal for the Met Opera's Il Trovatore.

Il Trovatore: Anna Netrebko and Dimitri Hvorostovsky Duet

2m 14s

Anna Netrebko (Leonora) and Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Count di Luna) perform the Act IV duet at the final dress rehearsal for Verdi's "Il Trovatore." Leonora offers herself to the count in return for her lover’s life.

GP at the Met: Il Trovatore (2016) - Preview

34s

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.

Julie Andrews in Vienna: Lusthaus in Prater Park

1m 33s

As part of From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2016, host Julie Andrews visits the Lusthaus cafe in Vienna's Prater park. The Prater grounds were once the hunting grounds of the Habsburg royalty before Emperor Joseph II opened it to the public in 1766. Today the Prater is also home to an amusement park that includes the famous Ferris Wheel built in 1897. Learn about Vienna's most visited site.

From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2016 - Preview

35s

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. The program airs at 2:30 & 7:30 pm (check local listings).

Andrea Bocelli: Cinema - "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" Duet

1m 49s

Tenor Andrea Bocelli and singer Nicole Scherzinger sing a Spanish-language version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," a song originally written for the musical Evita by the team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The film version based on the musical opened on December 25, 1996, and starred Madonna as Evita Perón. Scherzinger began her career with the Pussycat Dolls and starred in Cats in London.

Andrea Bocelli: Cinema - "Por una Cabeza" Tango Song

1m 51s

Tenor Andrea Bocelli performs the tango song “Por Una Cabeza” from Scent of a Woman (1992). The song, comparing an addiction to horse racing with an attraction to women, was written in 1935 by two men central to tango in Argentina: singer and composer Carlos Gardel and lyricist Alfredo Le Pera. Sharing the stage with Bocelli are tango dancers Paul Karmiryan and Tiffany Maher.

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