Now entering its 43rd season on PBS, GREAT PERFORMANCES is America’s preeminent performing arts television series, showcasing a diverse range of performing arts specials from around the world. Since its premiere in 1972, GREAT PERFORMANCES has presented an international roster of renowned artists and performing art companies of all genres. From new productions of timeless […]
Great Performances mourns the passing of the Broadway legend who was equally adept at musicals, drama and comedy. Here Stritch sings “I’m Still Here” at Stephen Sondheim’s birthday tribute in 2010.
John Lithgow hosts Star-Spangled Spectacular: Bicentennial of Our National Anthem, a live broadcast from Baltimore, Maryland, on September 13, 2014.
The Broadcast Television Journalists Association has announced the nominations for the 2014 Critics’ Choice Television Awards. The Hollow Crown, nominated for “Best Mini-Series,” is made up of filmed adaptations of four of Shakespeare’s most gripping history plays — Richard II, Henry IV, Parts I and II and Henry V — and aired on Great Performances […]
The Great Performances production Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy is a 2013 Peabody Award winner! “Peabody Awards honor ‘stories that matter,’ so it is incredibly rewarding for Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy to be recognized with this prestigious award,” said filmmaker Michael Kantor. “When you create a show working with David Horn and the team […]
Great Performances mourns the passing of maestro Claudio Abbado, an Italian conductor who directed some of the finest music institutions in the world – including La Scala, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna State Opera and the Berlin Philharmonic. He died on Monday at his home in Bologna, Italy. He was 80 years old. The […]
Jeremy Irons earned a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nomination for his role in The Hollow Crown, which Great Performances broadcast earlier this fall. Irons was recognized for his role as Henry IV in the miniseries. “It was a real pleasure to play Henry IV on film surrounded by such a strong cast; and for Richard […]
Great Performances mourns the passing of Emmy Award-winning pioneer producer and director of Dance in America Merrill Brockway in Santa Fe at the age of 90. An Indiana native, he started his career as a piano teacher and accompanist for noted singers and instrumentalists. At the age of 30, he decided to go into television, […]
Folk legend Richie Havens passed away yesterday from a heart attack at the age of 72. Havens inadvertently played himself into history when he opened the music festival at Woodstock in 1969 when the bands scheduled to open were late to the venue. It was at Woodstock where he improvised his now famous song “Freedom,” […]
Great Performances mourns the passing of Maria Tallchief, a Native American who grew up on an Indian reservation and later became a world famous prima ballerina. She died in Chicago at the age of 88. She had studied with Ernest Belcher (father of dancer Marge Champion) and with Bronislava Nijinska, formerly of Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes. […]
