About this season
The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.
Episodes (28)
1. Havana Time Machine
Aired 6 October 2017
Great Performances and Latino Public Broadcasting’s VOCES present Havana Time Machine on Friday October 6 at 9PM on PBS. Singer Raul Malo of The Mavericks explores his Cuban heritage in this breakthrough performance documentary. Eliades Ochoa, Ivette Cepeda, Roberto Fonseca, and the Sweet Lizzy Project join the music star in an historical and musical journey through present-day Cuba.
2. GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends® 2017
Aired 13 October 2017
In collaboration with the Recording Academy®, Great Performances presents Grammy Salute To Music Legends 2017®, the second annual all-star concert offering a spotlight for the Academy’s 2017 Special Merit Awards recipients. The celebration, led by Paul Shaffer as musical director, was recorded at New York’s Beacon Theatre.
3. She Loves Me
10.0Aired 20 October 2017
The celebrated score features favorites such as “Vanilla Ice Cream,” “A Romantic Atmosphere,” “Dear Friend,” and “She Loves Me.” The musical is based on a play by Miklos Laszlo, whose well-known romantic story was the basis for the 1940 James Stewart film “The Shop Around the Corner,” the 1949 Judy Garland and Van Johnson musical “In the Good Old Summertime,” and the 1998 Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan film “You’ve Got Mail.”
4. Noël Coward’s Present Laughter
Aired 3 November 2017
Noël Coward’s Present Laughter follows a self-obsessed actor in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Juggling his considerable talent, ego and libido, the theater’s favorite leading man suddenly finds himself caught between fawning ingénues, crazed playwrights, secret trysts and unexpected twists.
5. In The Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams
Aired 10 November 2017
In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams chronicles the personal stories of composer/lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of In the Heights in the months leading up to its 2008 opening night.
6. Foo Fighters – Landmarks Live in Concert
Aired 10 November 2017
Multi-Grammy-winning rock band Foo Fighters delivers an electrifying, historic performance at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, in the latest installment of Landmarks Live in Concert for GREAT PERFORMANCES. Captured this past July, Foo Fighters – Landmarks Live in Concert: A Great Performances Special premieres nationwide Friday, November 10 at 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
7. Indecent
Aired 17 November 2017
The Tony Award-winning play Indecent comes to Great Performances on Friday, November 17 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) as part of the fall Broadway’s Best lineup.
8. Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn
Aired 24 November 2017
The festive Roundabout Theatre Company production of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn - The Broadway Musical comes to PBS. The musical continues the Great Performances marathon within the Broadway’s Best lineup on PBS.
9. The Moody Blues: Days of Future Passed Live
Aired 25 November 2017
The Moody Blues: Days of Future Passed Live from Great Performances premieres nationwide beginning November 25 on PBS (check local listings). Celebrating the 50th anniversary of their landmark album, The Moody Blues took to the road to perform the entire LP live.
10. Hitman: David Foster & Friends
Aired 25 November 2017
David Foster has generated some of the biggest hits in popular music, and collaborated with a veritable “Who’s Who” of superstars in a career spanning more than three decades. In this special encore presentation, Foster’s achievements, including 14 Grammy Awards, are celebrated in an all-star concert.
11. From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2018
Aired 1 January 2018
Great Performances continues the cherished tradition of ringing in the new year with the Vienna Philharmonic with Chicago Symphony Orchestra Music Director Riccardo Muti. This year’s program welcomes new host Hugh Bonneville, best known as Robert, Earl of Grantham, in Downton Abbey. From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2018 premieres Monday, January 1, 2018 at 2:30PM EST(check local listings).
12. Great Performances at the Met: Norma
Aired 26 January 2018
Great Performances at the Met Season 12 begins with a new production of Bellini’s masterpiece about a woman scorned, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. Norma stars Sondra Radvanovsky as the titlular druid high priestess, opposite Joyce DiDonato and Joseph Calleja. Great Performances at the Met: Norma premieres nationwide Friday, January 26 at 9PM on PBS (check local listings).
13. Nas Live From the Kennedy Center: Classical Hip-Hop
Aired 2 February 2018
Two decades after the album’s critically acclaimed release, Nas teamed up with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to stage a symphonic rendition of “Illmatic,” one of the most revered albums in hip-hop history. Great Performances — Nas Live From the Kennedy Center: Classical Hip-Hop premieres Friday, February 2 at 9PM on PBS (check local listings).
14. Movies for Grownups® Awards with AARP the Magazine
Aired 23 February 2018
This year’s 17th annual Movies for Grownups® Awards with AARP the Magazine will be broadcast for the first time ever. Co-produced by Great Performances, the awards premiere Friday, February 23 at 9PM on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/gperf and PBS apps. Award-winning film and stage actor Alan Cumming hosted the star-studded evening at the Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills on February 5.
15. Great Performances at the Met: Exterminating Angel
Aired 25 March 2018
Season 12 of Great Performances at the Met continues on PBS on Sunday, March 25, with the American premiere of Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel, a surreal fantasy about a dinner party from which the guests can’t escape. The Exterminating Angel was inspired by the classic Luis Buñuel film of the same name, and stars John Tomlinson and Alice Coote. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is the host.
16. will.i.am and Friends Featuring the Black Eyed Peas
Aired 20 April 2018
International superstar will.i.am performs from London’s historic Royal Albert Hall in a one-night-only concert event. The award-winning artist, writer and producer reunites with members of the Black Eyed Peas plus special guests Pia Mia, Eva Simons and Lydia Lucy. Will.i.am and Friends Featuring the Black Eyed - Landmarks Live in Concert premieres April 20 at 10PM on PBS (check local listings).
17. Great Performances at the Met: L’Elisir d’Amore
Aired 29 April 2018
Donizetti’s comedy charms with Pretty Yende as Adina and Matthew Polenzani as Nemorino. The poor country boy Nemorino wins the love of wealthy and beautiful Adina with the help of a magic elixir. Susanna Phillips hosts.
18. Great Performances at the Met: La Boheme
Aired 20 May 2018
See the classic Puccini opera starring Sonya Yoncheva as Mimì and Michael Fabiano as Rodolfo. In 1830s Paris, the budding romances of two couples are tested by jealousy, poverty and illness. Marco Armiliato conducts.
19. The Opera House
Aired 25 May 2018
Explore the rich history of the Met Opera’s Lincoln Center home and the cultural life of 1950s-60s New York City. Features famed soprano Leontyne Price, the Met’s general manager Rudolf Bing, city planner Robert Moses and architect Wallace Harrison.
20. Great Performances at the Met: Tosca
Aired 15 June 2018
Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo sing Tosca and Cavaradossi’s Act I duet in the final dress rehearsal.
21. Ellis Island: The Dream of America with Pacific Symphony
Aired 29 June 2018
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.
22. Great Performances at the Met: Semiramide
Aired 8 July 2018
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.
23. Great Performances at the Met: Così fan tutte
Aired 29 July 2018
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.
24. Chicago Voices
Aired 10 August 2018
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.
25. Great Performances at the Met: Luisa Miller
Aired 12 August 2018
Experience Verdi’s heart-wrenching opera with Plácido Domingo as Miller, and Sonya Yoncheva in the title role opposite tenor Piotr Beczała as Rodolfo. Conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Anthony Roth Costanzo hosts.
26. Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2018
Aired 17 August 2018
Enjoy the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic’s annual open-air concert from Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace, featuring conductor Valery Gergiev and internationally acclaimed soprano Anna Netrebko as a guest soloist.
27. The Chris Botti Band in Concert
Aired 18 August 2018
With this new special, Great Performances puts the spotlight on Botti and his band, capturing one of today’s leading jazz trumpeters at his peak.
28. Great Performances at the Met: Cendrillon
Aired 9 September 2018
Experience Massenet’s Cinderella with Joyce DiDonato in the title role, Alice Coote as Prince Charming, Kathleen Kim as the Fairy Godmother, and Stephanie Blythe as Madame de la Haltière. Bertrand de Billy conducts Laurent Pelly’s production.