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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 E15

2h 9m / TV-14

Alessandro Corbelli in Rossini's La Cenerentola

1m 26s

Italian baritone Alessandro Corbelli performs the role of Cenerentola’s stepfather Don Magnifico, and sings the aria "Miei rampolli femminini" from Act I of Rossini's La Cenerentola. This scene includes Rachelle Durkin as Clorinda and Patricia Risley as Tisbe, the daughters of Don Magnifico. GP at the Met: La Cenerentola airs Sunday, September 7, 2014, at noon on PBS.

GP at the Met: La Cenerentola

39s

Joyce DiDonato sings the title role in Rossini’s Cinderella story, La Cenerentola, with bel canto master Juan Diego Flórez as her prince. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads a cast that also includes Pietro Spagnoli as the servant Dandini, Alessandro Corbelli as Cenerentola’s stepfather Don Magnifico, and Luca Pisaroni as Don Ramiro’s tutor, Alidoro, on GP at the Met, Sept. 7, 2014 at noon.

Excerpt from “Rejoice”: A Yidishe Mame (A Jewish Mother)

8m

Neil Sedaka introduces the song "A Yidishe Mame" (A Jewish Mother) and violinist Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Helfgot perform the popular Yiddish classic with Vaudeville roots, backed by The Klezmer Conservatory Band and The Rejoice Chamber Orchestra. Watch "Rejoice with Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot" on Thursday, August 28, 2014, at 9 pm on PBS.

Excerpt from “Rejoice”: Yism’Khu (They Shall Rejoice)

5m 4s

Let the festivities begin as violinist Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot perform the opening song Yism’Khu (They Shall Rejoice) backed by The Klezmer Conservatory Band and The Rejoice Chamber Orchestra. Watch "Rejoice with Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot" on Thursday, August 28, 2014, at 9 pm on PBS.

Rejoice with Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot

45s

Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman and celebrated 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 music of “Rejoice” showcases the confluences between the violinist’s famed classical technique and Helfgot’s magnificent voice.

GP at the Met: Così fan tutte

39s

James Levine conducts Mozart’s romance Così fan tutte, a comic opera about the complications that ensue when two friends decide to test their fiancées’ fidelity. Rising Met stars include Susanna Phillips and Isabel Leonard as the sisters; Matthew Polenzani and Rodion Pogossov as their fiancés; and Danielle de Niese as their maid. Airs Aug. 24 at noon on PBS; on Aug. 31 at 12:30 pm on WNET in NY.

Lang Lang Performs Strauss' Burleske

2m 7s

Led for the first time by guest conductor Christoph Eschenbach, the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic performs Richard Stauss' Burleske for Piano and Orchestra with piano virtuoso Lang Lang. Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2014 airs on Great Performances, Friday, August 22 at 9 pm on PBS.

Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2014 Preview

34s

Led for the first time by a guest conductor Christoph Eschenbach, the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic returns for their 11th open-air concert in the magnificent gardens of Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace. The concert, featuring piano virtuoso Lang Lang and symphonic poems by Berlioz and Richard Strauss, airs on Great Performances, Friday, August 22 at 9 pm on PBS.

Dudamel Describes the Drama and Genius of Verdi's Requiem

2m 59s

Gustavo Dudamel can describe Verdi's Requiem as passionately as he conducts it. "The theatrical elements of this piece is incredible," he says in this interview that includes rehearsal footage. Using his hands, growls and poetic descriptions, Dudamel conveys the intense emotions of the music. Watch "Dudamel Conducts the Verdi Requiem at The Hollywood Bowl" on Fri. Aug. 1 at 9 pm on PBS.

Dudamel Conducts the Verdi Requiem at the Hollywood Bowl

34s

The acclaimed outdoor performance celebrating the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth is interspersed with archival footage and features Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and internationally acclaimed soloists Julianna Di Giacomo, Michelle DeYoung, Vittorio Grigolo and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo. Airs on Great Performances on Friday, August 1 at 9 pm.

GP at the Met: Werther

39s

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann stars as the tortured poet in the Met’s new production of Jules Massenet’s Werther on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, July 20 at 12 pm on PBS. (In New York, THIRTEEN airs the opera at 12:30 pm). Sophie Koch, a leading interpreter of the role Charlotte, plays opposite Kaufmann after their prior appearances together in Paris and Vienna in same roles.

GP at the Met: La Bohème

34s

Franco Zeffirelli’s production of La Bohème, the most-performed opera in Met history, starring Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo and Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais, airs on Great Performances at the Met on Friday, June 27 at 9 pm. Opolais made headlines when she made her company role debut as Mimì with a few hours notice, having sung the title role in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly the night before.

GP at the Met: Prince Igor

40s

Borodin's Russian epic Prince Igor, performed by the Met for the first time in nearly 100 years, comes to Great Performances at the Met on June 22, 2014. The acclaimed new production by director Dmitri Tcherniakov, in his Met debut, stars Ildar Abdrazakov as the title character, a 12th-century ruler who defended Russia against invading Polovtsian forces.

Renée Fleming Sings "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka

2m 6s / TV-PG

The American soprano Renée Fleming won the Met's National Council Auditions 25 years ago singing the mermaid's aria "Song to the Moon" and has sung the role of Rusalka more than any artist in the Metropolitan Opera's history. Dvo?ák's Rusalka airs on Great Performances at the Met on May 18, 2014, at 12 noon on PBS (check local listings). (In New York, THIRTEEN airs it Friday, May 30 at 9 pm.)

GP at the Met: Rusalka

30s

Renée Fleming sings one of her signature roles, the title character in Dvo?ák's Rusalka, an opera about a water spirit's tragic romance with a prince. The story is drawn partly from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a cast that includes Piotr Beczala; Dolora Zajick; Emily Magee; and John Relyea as Rusalka's father, the Water Sprite.

Matthew Bourne Interview. Creating a New Sleeping Beauty

2m 11s / TV-14

Dance history and storytelling is important to choreographer Matthew Bourne, creator of a "Swan Lake" with an all-male corp of Swans, and an "Edward Scissorhands" ballet, among other productions. Even in his re-interpretation of "Sleeping Beauty," he remains "reverential" about the original, he says in this interview. "Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty" airs on Great Performances, April 25 at 9 pm.

Casting a Curse in Sleeping Beauty

1m 33s

The dark fairy Carabosse (Adam Maskell) enters the room of baby Princess Aurora to cast a curse upon her. The king and queen had desperately wanted a child and had sought Carabosse's help, but didn't show gratitude later. The dark fairy takes her revenge, leaving a blackened rose on Aurora's bassinet as an ominous symbol. An excerpt from Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty, airing April 25 at 9 pm.

Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty - Preview

40s / TV-PG

Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet, about a young woman who endures a decades-long slumber, is given a Gothic spin by choreographer Matthew Bourne, who also starts the story in 1890, when fairies, vampires and decadent opulence fed the Gothic imagination. Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty airs Friday, April 25 at 9 pm on PBS.

The Fairies Dance for Aurora

1m 54s / TV-PG

The year is 1890. By the light of the full moon and candlesticks, six good fairies slip into the sleeping baby Aurora's room. The baby awakes unfrightened and the fairies dance for her. Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty airs Friday, April 25, 2014 at 9 pm on PBS.

Aurora's 100-Year Sleep in Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty

2m 20s / TV-PG

Princess Aurora's 100-year slumber becomes restless as it nears the end of its spell. The ensemble sequence features Hannah Vassallo as Aurora and Dominic North as the modern-day Leo. An excerpt from Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty, airing on Great Performances on April 25 at 9 PM.

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