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 E15

2h 9m / TV-14

GP at the Met: Don Carlo

31s / TV-G

The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Verdi's Don Carlo will air on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, April 3 at 12 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings). The production is conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin, directed by Nicholas Hytner, and is starring Roberto Alagna, Marina Poplavskaya, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Simon Keenlyside, and Eric Halfvarson.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Pierre Boulez Conducts Mahler

30s

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Conductor Emeritus Pierre Boulez leads the Windy City's internationally renowned orchestra in Gustav Mahler's "Symphony No. 7." The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association has announced that Music Director Riccardo Muti must withdraw from fall performances due to illness. The change in conductor necessitated the change in the evening’s program to Mahler's Symphony No. 7.

Billy Joel performs "Captain Jack" at Shea Stadium

7m 17s / TV-PG

Shortly before the demolition of New York City's Shea Stadium in July 2008, superstar Billy Joel electrified audiences with two memorable concerts at the historic arena. Watch him perform the 1973 classic "Captain Jack" in that concert.

Billy Joel performs "Piano Man" at Shea Stadium

5m 55s / TV-G

Chosen as the last rock act to play the venue, Billy Joel staged his "Last Play at Shea" concerts on July 16 and July 18, 2008, rocking a combined audience of 110,000 fans with one of the most emotionally charged shows ever played at the historic stadium. Watch him perform his classic anthem "Piano Man" at this historic concert.

Billy Joel: Live at Shea Stadium

30s / TV-G

Shortly before the demolition of New York City's Shea Stadium in July 2008, Billy Joel electrified audiences with two memorable concerts at the arena. Joel's special guests included Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, and Sir Paul McCartney whose 1965 appearance there with the Beatles was so iconic. Hear those songs performed in full in Billy Joel: Live at Shea Stadium airing March on Great Performances.

Harry Connick Jr., In Concert on Broadway - Preview

30s / TV-G

Taped in July of 2010 at New York's Neil Simon Theater, Harry Connick, Jr. in Concert on Broadway features Connick's big band and a 12-piece string section, with the star on both a Steinway grand and upright honky-tonk piano. The program will air Wednesday, March 2 at 9:30 p.m. (check local listings).

Boris Godunov - Preview

31s / TV-G

Adapted from a play by Alexander Pushkin about the extraordinary reign of the 16th-century tsar, Boris Godunov is regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Russian operatic repertoire. The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov starring Rene Pape as Boris and conducted by Valery Gergiev, will air on Sunday, February 13 at 12 p.m. ET (check local listings).

Don Pasquale

30s

Anna Netrebko revives her sensational turn in this sophisticated bel canto comedy, opposite Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and John Del Carlo in the title role. Met Music Director James Levine conducts. When Otto Schenk's production premiered in 2006, the New York Times acclaimed it as "brilliant" and "wonderful."

From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2011 - Preview

30s / TV-G

From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2011, featuring the much-loved melodies of the Strauss Family, will air Saturday, January 1 at 8 p.m. (check local listings). News veteran Paula Zahn will cover for stage and screen legend Julie Andrews as host of the festive annual New Year's celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic, under the direction of Franz Welser-Moest from Vienna's Musikverein.

Celebracion! Dudamel, Florez, and the L.A. Phil Preview

31s / TV-G

THIRTEEN's Great Performances spotlights the October 7 opening night concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music Director Gustavo Dudamel featuring renowned Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Actress Eva Mendes hosts the broadcast. The program will air Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).

San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker Preview

30s / TV-G

Introduced by Olympic champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, a native of the Bay Area and winner of 2008's Dancing with the Stars, the production encores in high definition and 5.1 surround sound. San Francisco Ballet Music Director and Principal Conductor Martin West conducts Tchaikovsky's sprightly score. Recorded in December 2007, the work is choreographed by Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson.

"Move On" from Sondheim! The Birthday Concert

4m 27s

Watch broadway veterans Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin perform "Move On" from Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George with the New York Philharmonic for Sondheim's 80th birthday celebration. The two-hour concert, Sondheim! The Birthday Concert will air on PBS's Great Performances Wednesday, November 24 at 9 p.m. (check local listings).

Sondheim! The Birthday Concert - Preview

31s

Performed on Sondheim's 80th birthday in March 2010, Great Performances presents the New York Philharmonic's salute to a true Broadway legend on November 24. Hosted by David Hyde Pierce, gathering to celebrate are acclaimed Sondheim alumni as Laura Benanti, Michael Cerveris, Victoria Clark, Joanna Gleason, Nathan Gunn, Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, and many more.

Macbeth Preview

30s / TV-14

Director Rupert Goold's gripping stage production of Macbeth, set in a nameless 20th-century militaristic society and starring Sir Patrick Stewart in his Tony-nominated performance as the ambitious general, and Kate Fleetwood as his coldly scheming wife, has been rethought in vivid filmic terms.

Macbeth: A Conversation with Sir Patrick Stewart

10m 47s

In an interview with award-winning journalist Paula Zahn, Sir Patrick Stewart discusses what attracted him to the role of Macbeth, the innovative creative process of working with director Rupert Goold, his co-star Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth, his character's descent into darkness, and some performance advice he received from another famous Macbeth, Sir Ian McKellan.

Renee Fleming & Dmitri Hvorostovsky Preview

30s

America's favorite soprano, Renee Fleming, and Russia's greatest living baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, travel to St. Petersburg where they perform opera scenes in the palaces of the Czars in the former capital of Imperial Russia. Renee Fleming & Dmitri Hvorostovsky: A Musical Odyssey in St. Petersburg premieres on Great Performances Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 8 pm (check local listings).

A Ballet in Sneakers: Jerome Robbins and Opus Jazz

9m 48s

Watch choreographer (and original West Side Story dancer) Eliot Feld, Sondra Lee (one of Robbins' original "Opus" dancers), along with other Robbins' friends and colleagues join the current cast of dancers to contextualize the cultural and historical importance of Mr. Robbins' career and NY Export: Opus Jazz in this 10 minute documentary by Matt Wolf and Anna Farrell.

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