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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 E2

1h 13m

"Sweet Home Chicago"

2m 35s

In the lively finale of Chicago Voices, the cast of performers, including Jessie Mueller, Kurt Elling, Michelle Williams, Matthew Polenzani, Renee Fleming and Shemekia Copeland, join together to sing a windy city favorite.

Chicago Voices Trailer

30s

Celebrate Chicago’s vibrant music culture with performances by Renée Fleming, Broadway’s Jessie Mueller, rap artist Lupe Fiasco, folk legend John Prine, pop and gospel singer Michelle Williams and more.

GP at the Met: Così fan tutte - Official Trailer

30s

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.

“Donne mie, la fate a tanti”

1m 23s

In Guglielmo’s Act II aria, sung by Adam Plachetka, he sympathizes with Ferrando who has just learned his betrothed Dorabella didn't resist strongly to Guglielmo's attempts to woo her in disguise.

Semiramide - Trailer

29s

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.

Behind the Scenes with Composer Peter Boyer

2m 13s

In this behind-the-scenes clip, Peter Boyer gives insight into how the orchestration, dramatic readings and historic visuals work in tandem to make his Grammy-nominated composition "Ellis Island: The Dream of America," a moving musical experience.

The story of an immigrant child's journey to Ellis Island

3m 42s

In this excerpt, Camryn Manheim performs the words of 10-year-old Russian immigrant Katherine Beychok, who traveled to America in 1910 and wrote about her experience seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time.

Excerpt from composer Peter Boyer’s “Ellis Island: The Dream

2m 49s

Using historic Ellis Island images, this Grammy-nominated score by Peter Boyer and performed by Pacific Symphony celebrates the American immigrant experience.

Ellis Island: The Dream of America with Pacific Symphony

30s

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.

The Groundbreaking Ceremony of Lincoln Center

1m 48s

With remarks by Leonard Bernstein and President Eisenhower, plus music by the New York Philharmonic, Juilliard Chorus, and the Metropolitan Opera, ground broke on Lincoln Center.

The Chandeliers - How an Accident Became Art

2m 46s

Architect Kyna Leski breaks down her father's story on how a wonderful accident while drawing the chandeliers became one of the most aesthetically pleasing additions to The Opera House.

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