Arts and Music

Great Performances

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.

Now Hear This “Virtuosos”

53m 24s

Explore the work of two legendary virtuosos, Niccolò Paganini and Robert Johnson, along with stars of today, Augustin Hadelich and Keb Mo. Joined by Cirque du Soleil acrobats, discover the secrets of being a virtuoso.

Episodes

  • Great Performances: Keeping Company with Sondheim: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: Keeping Company with Sondheim

    S49 E29 - 1h 13m

    Take an inside look at the reimagined gender-swapped production as it returns to Broadway during the COVID-19 pandemic. Features new interviews with Tony and Grammy-winning cast members Katrina Lenk, Patti LuPone, Sondheim and more.

  • Great Performances: Merry Wives: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: Merry Wives

    S49 E28 - 1h 49m

    Experience Shakespeare’s comedic masterpiece from the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park set in South Harlem telling the story of the trickster Falstaff and the wily wives who outwit him in a celebration of Black joy, laughter and vitality.

  • Great Performances: Anything Goes: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: Anything Goes

    S49 E27 - 2h 20m

    Enjoy this London production of Cole Porter’s classic musical led by Sutton Foster who reprises her Tony-winning role as Reno Sweeney directed by Kathleen Marshall with favorite songs like “I Get A Kick Out of You” and “You’re the Top.”

  • Now Hear This "New American Voices": asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Now Hear This "New American Voices"

    S49 E25 - 54m 25s

    Scott Yoo discovers how American composers are inspired by their immigrant roots today through two composers: Brazilian-born Sergio Assad and Indian American Reena Esmail.

  • Now Hear This "Amy Beach: American Romantic": asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Now Hear This "Amy Beach: American Romantic"

    S49 E22 - 53m 54s

    Host Scott Yoo and his wife, flutist Alice Dade, perform the work of Romantic era classical composer Amy Beach at Festival Mosaic and uncover Beach’s many musical influences. Featuring performances of Beach’s works, the duo visits places Beach took inspiration from throughout her life, including an artist residency at MacDowell in New Hampshire.

  • Great Performances: The Conductor: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: The Conductor

    S49 E20 - 1h 24m

    Follow Marin Alsop’s journey to become the first female music director of a major American symphony despite repeated rejection by the classical music industry. Features archival footage with her mentor Leonard Bernstein and is set to a soundtrack of her performances.

  • Great Performances – Reopening: The Broadway Revival: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances – Reopening: The Broadway Revival

    S49 E16 - 54m

    Go behind the scenes of Broadway as shows reunite, rehearse and re-stage for their long-awaited reopening nights while the theater industry learns how to turn the lights back on after its longest hiatus in history due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Coppelia: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Coppelia

    S49 E10 - 1h 16m

    Enjoy this contemporary reboot of the 1870 classical ballet favorite. Blending live action ballet with CGI, the film features ballet stars Michaela DePrince and Daniel Camargo.

  • Great Performances: San Francisco Symphony Reopening Night: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: San Francisco Symphony Reopening Night

    S49 E9 - 1h 22m

    Celebrate opening night of San Francisco Symphony’s 110th season as it welcomes its new GRAMMY-winning music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, featuring music by John Adams, esperanza spalding & Wayne Shorter and performances by Alonzo King LINES Ballet.

  • Great Performances: A John Williams Premiere at Tanglewood: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances: A John Williams Premiere at Tanglewood

    S49 E8 - 1h 24m

    Experience a concert of works by legendary composer John Williams from Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home at Tanglewood including Williams’ new violin concerto performed by virtuoso Anne-Sophie Mutter and other works conducted by Andris Nelsons.

Extras + Features

  • Great Performances at the Met: Boris Godunov Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances at the Met: Boris Godunov Preview

    S49 E17 - 30s

    Bass René Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between ambition and paranoia. Conductor Sebastian Weigle leads Mussorgsky’s Russian masterwork in its original 1869 version. Stephen Wadsworth’s production captures the hope and suffering of the Russian people as well as the tsar himself. Met Opera soprano Angel Blue hosts.

  • Broadway Is...: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Broadway Is...

    S49 E16 - 1m 26s

    Listen to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sara Bareilles, Adrienne Warren, Andrew Rannells, Kristin Chenoweth and others discuss what "Broadway" means to them.

  • Back to the Rehearsal Room: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Back to the Rehearsal Room

    S49 E16 - 5m 33s

    Adrienne Warren (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), Michael James Scott (Aladdin), and Sara Bareilles (Waitress) discuss what it's like bringing their shows back into the rehearsal room.

  • Reopening "Wicked": asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Reopening "Wicked"

    S49 E16 - 3m 35s

    Go behind the scenes of the reopening night of "Wicked" as Kristin Chenoweth and the cast prepare to bring one of Broadway's biggest musicals back to the stage.

  • Reopening: The Broadway Revival Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Reopening: The Broadway Revival Preview

    S49 E16 - 30s

    Go behind the scenes of Broadway as shows reunite, rehearse and re-stage for their long-awaited reopening nights while the theater industry learns how to turn the lights back on after its longest hiatus in history due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • To the Hunt!: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    To the Hunt!

    S49 E15 - 2m 12s

    Under the baton of Grammy-winning guest conductor Daniel Barenboim, the Vienna Philharmonic performs Johann Strauss Jr.'s "To the Hunt!"

  • From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2022 Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2022 Preview

    S49 E15 - 30s

    Ring in the new year in Austria at the Musikverein with the Vienna Philharmonic and host Hugh Bonneville in this annual concert of waltzes by Strauss and more under the baton of guest conductor Daniel Barenboim.

  • Great Performances at the Met: New Year's Eve Gala Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great Performances at the Met: New Year's Eve Gala Preview

    S49 E14 - 30s

    The Met rings in the new year with a gala performance featuring stars Angel Blue, Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena and Matthew Polenzani. Performing from the Parktheater in Kurhaus Göggingen in Augsburg, Germany, the program features arias, duets and ensembles from Donizetti to Puccini, as well as arrangements of operetta and Neapolitan songs.

  • Excerpts from Great Performances at the Met: New Year's Eve: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Excerpts from Great Performances at the Met: New Year's Eve

    S49 E14 - 5m 45s

    Watch Met stars Angel Blue, Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena and Matthew Polenzani sing highlights from Great Performances at the Met: New Year's Eve Gala. Performing from the Parktheater in Kurhaus Göggingen in Augsburg, Germany, the program features arias, duets and ensembles from Donizetti to Puccini, as well as arrangements of operetta and Neapolitan songs.

  • GP at the Met: Bryn Terfel & Friends in Concert Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    GP at the Met: Bryn Terfel & Friends in Concert Preview

    S49 E13 - 30s

    Recorded December 2020, the legendary bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel performs a holiday program accompanied by Jeff Howard on piano and the Welsh traditional folk group Calan from Brecon Cathedral in the singer’s native Wales.

  • Unforgettable, by Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Unforgettable, by Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole

    S49 E12 - 3m 37s

    Watch this a special performance of Nat King Cole’s signature song “Unforgettable” sung as a duet by Natalie Cole and her father, accompanied by his televised image.

Schedule

  • Image
    Great Performances: TVSS: Iconic

    Great Performances

    Now Hear This: Old Friends

    Friday
    Apr 26

    1 Hour

    Exploring how virtuosos become maestros and their guiding principles through Scott Yoo's friendships with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Richard Kogan and violinist Lynn Chang.
  • Image
    Great Performances: TVSS: Iconic

    Great Performances

    Now Hear This: Old Friends

    Friday
    Apr 26

    1 Hour

    Exploring how virtuosos become maestros and their guiding principles through Scott Yoo's friendships with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Richard Kogan and violinist Lynn Chang.
  • Image
    Great Performances: TVSS: Iconic

    Great Performances

    Now Hear This: Old Friends

    Saturday
    Apr 27

    1 Hour

    Exploring how virtuosos become maestros and their guiding principles through Scott Yoo's friendships with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Richard Kogan and violinist Lynn Chang.
  • Image
    Great Performances: TVSS: Iconic

    Great Performances

    Now Hear This: Old Friends

    Saturday
    Apr 27

    1 Hour

    Exploring how virtuosos become maestros and their guiding principles through Scott Yoo's friendships with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Richard Kogan and violinist Lynn Chang.
  • Image
    Great Performances: TVSS: Iconic

    Great Performances

    Now Hear This: Old Friends

    Monday
    Apr 29

    1 Hour

    Exploring how virtuosos become maestros and their guiding principles through Scott Yoo's friendships with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Richard Kogan and violinist Lynn Chang.
  • Image
    Great Performances: TVSS: Iconic

    Great Performances

    Now Hear This: Old Friends

    Monday
    Apr 29

    1 Hour

    Exploring how virtuosos become maestros and their guiding principles through Scott Yoo's friendships with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Richard Kogan and violinist Lynn Chang.
  • Image
    Great Performances: TVSS: Iconic

    Great Performances

    The Composer Is Yoo

    Friday
    May 3

    1 Hour

    Scott Yoo's journey composing a piece of music for the first time; Yoo revisits his heritage in search of ideas, performs landmark pieces and tests his work in progress.
  • Image
    Great Performances: TVSS: Iconic

    Great Performances

    The Composer Is Yoo

    Friday
    May 3

    1 Hour

    Scott Yoo's journey composing a piece of music for the first time; Yoo revisits his heritage in search of ideas, performs landmark pieces and tests his work in progress.
  • Image
    Great Performances: TVSS: Iconic

    Great Performances

    The Composer Is Yoo

    Saturday
    May 4

    1 Hour

    Scott Yoo's journey composing a piece of music for the first time; Yoo revisits his heritage in search of ideas, performs landmark pieces and tests his work in progress.
  • Image
    Great Performances: TVSS: Iconic

    Great Performances

    The Composer Is Yoo

    Sunday
    May 5

    1 Hour

    Scott Yoo's journey composing a piece of music for the first time; Yoo revisits his heritage in search of ideas, performs landmark pieces and tests his work in progress.

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