Great Performances — Season 49

Aired 3 September 2021 • 111 min

Experience the music director of the Metropolitan Opera’s meteoric rise to become one of the most acclaimed and sought-after music directors of his generation in this documentary from cinema verité filmmaker Susan Froemke.

Aired 11 September 2021 • 90 min

Honor the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with this special performance hosted by Misty Copeland and led by Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin featuring soloists Ailyn Pérez, Michelle DeYoung, Matthew Polenzani and Eric Owens.

Aired 17 September 2021 • 98 min

Experience Hans Christian Andersen’s dark fairytale from acclaimed director-choreographer Matthew Bourne with this Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation starring Ashley Shaw, Adam Cooper, Dominic North and Michaela Meazza.

Aired 1 October 2021

From the historic Stadthalle in Wuppertal, Germany, recorded in January, this world-famous soprano-tenor pair perform arias and duets from some of their many performances at the Met including Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier,” Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” “Luisa Miller” and Dvořák’s “Rusalka," accompanied by Vincenzo Scalera on piano.

Aired 8 October 2021

Three-time GRAMMY winner Isabel Leonard joins Nadine Sierra and Ailyn Pérez to perform timeless selections by Mozart, Offenbach and Bizet including “Voi che sapete” and “Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour” along with beloved songs like “Bésame Mucho” and “Cielito Lindo.” The concert was recorded in May at the Royal Opera of Versailles in France and Met Opera soprano Christine Goerke hosts.

Aired 29 October 2021 • 55 min

Go inside the mind of a genius as host Scott Yoo and fellow musicians undertake a recording of Beethoven's most personal music at a historic Berkshires manor to explore the composer’s brilliant career—where they are visited by some unexpected guests.

Aired 5 November 2021

Recorded in May, a quartet of some of opera’s most powerful and dramatic singers comes together at the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, Germany. Sopranos Christine Goerke and Elza van den Heever, tenor Andreas Schager, and baritone Michael Volle perform a program of selections by Wagner and Strauss.

Aired 12 November 2021 • 85 min

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.

Aired 19 November 2021 • 82 min

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.

Aired 26 November 2021 • 77 min

Enjoy this contemporary reboot of the 1870 ballet favorite that blends live-action ballet with CGI and features ballet stars Michaela DePrince and Daniel Camargo.

Aired 27 November 2021 • 63 min

Enjoy this special encore of Natalie Cole’s Emmy-winning concert of her GRAMMY-winning album in Great Performances: Unforgettable With Love - Natalie Cole. Featuring classics such as “Mona Lisa,” “The Very Thought of You” and “For Sentimental Reasons,” the concert also features a special performance of Nat King Cole’s signature song “Unforgettable” sung as a duet by Natalie Cole and her father.

Aired 3 December 2021

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.

Aired 31 December 2021

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.

Aired 1 January 2022

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.

Aired 18 January 2022 • 54 min

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.

Aired 6 February 2022

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.

Aired 6 March 2022

The ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, who attempts to harness the power of music to rescue his beloved Eurydice from the Underworld, has inspired composers since opera’s earliest days. With a libretto by Sarah Ruhl adapted from her acclaimed 2003 play, the opera reimagines the familiar tale from Eurydice’s point of view.

Aired 18 March 2022

First broadcast on PBS in 2018, Movies for Grownups Awards with AARP the Magazine returns for a fifth year to celebrate and encourage filmmaking with unique appeal to movie-lovers with a grownup state of mind—and recognize the inspiring artists who make them. Each year the centerpiece honor is the Career Achievement Award, celebrating the contributions cinema legends.

Aired 25 March 2022 • 85 min

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.

Aired 1 April 2022

Experience Grammy-winning composer Terence Blanchard and librettist Kasi Lemmon’s adaptation of Charles M. Blow’s memoir. James Robinson and Camille A. Brown co-direct with Brown also choreographing. Baritone Will Liverman stars with soprano Angel Blue.

Aired 8 April 2022 • 54 min

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.

Aired 15 April 2022 • 55 min

From Little Rock to Chicago, host Scott Yoo follows the trail of the great African American composer Florence Price.

Aired 22 April 2022 • 55 min

Scott Yoo explores the life and work of Aaron Copland, and how he created the American sound.

Aired 29 April 2022 • 55 min

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.

Aired 8 May 2022

Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard stars as the rags-to-riches princess in Laurent Pelly’s storybook staging of Massenet’s “Cendrillon.” Featuring an all-new English translation by Kelley Rourke and conducted by Maestro Emmanuel Villaume, the cast also includes mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo as Cinderella’s Prince Charming, soprano Jessica Pratt as her Fairy Godmother, and more.

Aired 13 May 2022 • 141 min

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.”

Aired 20 May 2022 • 110 min

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

Aired 27 May 2022 • 74 min

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.

Aired 17 June 2022

Baritone Quinn Kelsey portrays the title role at the Met for the first time, starring alongside soprano Rosa Feola as Gilda and tenor Piotr Beczała as the Duke of Mantua. Maestro Daniele Rustioni leads Verdi’s timeless tragedy reset in 1920s Europe by Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher. Varduhi Abrahamyan plays Maddalena and Andrea Mastroni plays Sparafucile.

Aired 3 July 2022

Soprano Lise Davidsen brings one of her signature roles to the Met for the first time as the mythological Greek heroine of Strauss’ masterpiece.

Aired 7 August 2022

For the first time in its history, the Met presents the original five-act French version of Verdi’s epic opera of doomed love among royalty, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition. Watch this starry cast including tenor Matthew Polenzani in the title role, soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Élisabeth de Valois and Jamie Barton as Eboli.

Aired 26 August 2022

Enjoy the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual summer night concert with cellist Gautier Capuçon under the direction of guest conductor Andris Nelsons at Austria’s Schönbrunn Palace.

Aired 4 September 2022

Enjoy opera superstar Liudmyla Monastyrska in the title role of the legendary cold-hearted princess. Marco Armiliato conducts Puccini’s score with tenor Yonghoon Lee as Calàf, the bold prince determined to win the princess' love. Nadine Sierra hosts.