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The Italian fishing village and upmarket resort is noted for its picturesque harbor and frequent celebrity visitors, as demonstrated by a kaleidoscopic photo montage featuring screen legends Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Eddie Fisher, Elizabeth Taylor, and current personalities ranging from Denzel Washington to Ellen DeGeneres.

With 16-time Grammy-winner David Foster as both music director and keyboard accompanist, Bocelli is also joined by trumpeter Chris Botti. Under the stars, beside the shimmering harbor waters, and with a rapt audience including Paul Anka, Sir Michael Caine, and Italian actress Ornella Muti, Bocelli performs some of the world’s most famous love songs, including “Senza Fine,” “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás,” “Bésame Mucho,” “Champagne,” “Love Me Tender,” and in duet with the late, legendary Edith Piaf, “La Vie en Rose,” while his real-life love Veronica Berti looks on adoringly. Bocelli sings in six languages (Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Neapolitan). The sensual sound is rounded out by Cuban, Brazilian, and Portuguese rhythms.

Andrea Bocelli: Love in Portofino airs on Great Performances in March on PBS. (Check local listings.) (In New York, THIRTEEN will premiere the special Sunday, March 3 at 9 p.m.)

Andrea Bocelli: Love in Portofino is, in essence, a sequel to his earlier Great Performancesspecial, Amore. As with that concert, which featured timeless masterworks, the latest includes several beloved classics such as “Love Me Tender,” “Il Nostro Incontro” (the theme from Cinema Paradiso), “Sara Settembre,” (better known to English-speaking audiences as Neil Diamond’s “September Morn,” and translated into Italian by Bocelli himself), and “La mia via” (“My Way”), with the composer sitting harborside.

Since Great Performances introduced American television audiences to Bocelli with 1997′sRomanza concert, Bocelli has been featured in a notable series of Great Performancesspecials, including Sacred Arias, Amore, Vivere, My Christmas and American Dream, his spectacular “Statue of Liberty” concert from New Jersey’s Liberty State Park. Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park aired in December 2011. He wasaccompanied by the New York Philharmonic, under the direction of music director Alan Gilbert, the spectacular event being Bocelli’s special gift to New York City.

Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For 50 years, THIRTEEN has been making the most of the rich resources and passionate people of New York and the world, reaching millions of people with on-air and online programming that celebrates arts and culture, offers insightful commentary on the news of the day, explores the worlds of science and nature, and invites students of all ages to have fun while learning.

The musical program at press time is set to include:

Il Nostro Incontro (theme from “Cinema Paradiso”) (with Chris Botti)

Senza Fine

Anema e Core (with Caroline Campbell)

Quizás, Quizás, Quizás  (with Caroline Campbell)

A Mano A Mano

Perfidia

Champagne

Corcovado (with Brazilian singer Sandy)

Tristeza

La Vie En Rose (with excerpts performed by Edith Piaf)

Qualche stupido “ti amo” (Somethin’ Stupid) (with Veronica Berti)

Bésame Mucho

Love Me Tender

Sarà Settembre (September Morn)

When I Fall in Love (with Helene Fischer & Chris Botti)

Roma Nun Fà La Stupida Stasera (“Rome, Don’t Act Silly Tonight”)

Era Già Tutto Provisto

Love in Portofino (with Caroline Campbell)

My Way

The Ensemble Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Giacomo Loprieno.

On January 29, Verve Music Group will release the studio album, “Passione,” featuring the Mediterranean love songs featured on the special.

Andrea Bocelli: Love in Portofino is directed by David Horn.

For Great Performances, Mitch Owgang and Andrea Cotromano are producers; Bill Kabel is associate producer; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn and Filippo Sugar are executive producers.

Major funding for Great Performances is provided by the Irene Diamond Fund, the Paul W. Zuccaire Foundation, The Starr Foundation, The Agnes Varis Trust, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation and PBS.

Now with the film fully restored to the highest technical standard with a remixed soundtrack, it’s time to tell the extraordinary story of Magical Mystery Tour: why it was made, how it was made and the circumstances in which it was made. Magical Mystery Tour Revisited is the story behind the controversial and surreal Beatles film and features new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Major funding for the Great Performances telecast is provided by the Irene Diamond Fund, The Starr Foundation, Vivian Milstein, The Agnes Varis Trust, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, and public television viewers.

Joe Berlinger’s film airs on Great Performances Friday, January 4 at 9 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.)

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Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For 50 years, THIRTEEN has been making the most of the rich resources and passionate people of New York and the world, reaching millions of people with on-air and online programming that celebrates arts and culture, offers insightful commentary on the news of the day, explores the worlds of science and nature, and invites students of all ages to have fun while learning.

Paul Simon’s Graceland Journey tracks the controversial recording of Graceland and its subsequent impact–and enduring influence–on world music and pop culture, made its premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.  It has been honored at the South By Southwest Film and Music Festival, the Cleveland International Film Festival, the Nashville Film Festival, the Banff Festival and the Newport Beach Film Festival.

In Paul Simon’s Graceland Journey, Simon revisits the making of the record, surveying from the vantage of history the turbulence and controversy surrounding the album’s genesis.   His artistic decision to collaborate with African musicians created a new world musical fusion, combining American and African musical idioms while igniting an intense political crossfire, with Simon accused of breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa designed to end the Apartheid regime.

The universal appeal of the music of Graceland proved more powerful and enduring than the political hotbed attending its creation.  In 1986, the album sold 14 million copies worldwide, and received universal praise from critics around the globe.  By January of 1987, “You Can Call Me Al” was everywhere and Graceland won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards in 1987.  Then, in an unprecedented carryover, the album earned the Song of the Year Grammy with its title track in 1988. The album generated three hit singles–”You Can Call Me Al,” “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” and “The Boy in the Bubble”–while keeping Paul Simon and the Graceland tour on the road for five years.

These questions fuel Paul Simon’s Graceland Journey, as Berlinger captures Simon reuniting with the South African musicians whose work became the heartbeat of Graceland, as well as preparing for a 25th anniversary concert that carries profound meaning for all of them. New insights, old ghosts and the sheer exhilarating joy of raw rehearsals emerge along with revealing interviews with Simon and such musical legends as Quincy Jones, Harry Belafonte, Paul McCartney and David Byrne – who measure the breadth of Graceland’s musical, political and cultural impact.

But the soul of the film becomes an impromptu, ultimately stirring, collision:  an unanticipated meeting between Simon and the founder of Artists Against Apartheid, Dali Tambo, long an outspoken critic of Simon visiting South Africa under apartheid.  Each man has his own passionate reasons, and without taking sides, the film allows the viewer to see all the angles and come to their own conclusions — even as the music that triggered indignation and exultation comes to life again.

The critically acclaimed new film from Academy Award nominated and two-time Emmy and Peabody Award winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger (“Brother’s Keeper,” “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” the West Memphis Three/”Paradise Lost” trilogy) had its broadcast debut on the A&E Network last May with the title Paul Simon’s Graceland Journey: Under African Skies. It was produced by @radical.media for A&E IndieFilms and Sony Music Entertainment’s Legacy Recordings, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. It received an Emmy Award in September, as well as major audience awards at SXSW and Cleveland Film Festivals. “The documentary…will remind many people of what they love about Graceland, the Paul Simon album whose 25th anniversary the film celebrates,” wrote Lawrence Downes in The New York Times. “Seeing it will also be a jolt for those who have forgotten the world of bitterness into which it was born….”

Paul Simon’s Graceland Journey is directed by Joe Berlinger and produced by Berlinger, Jon Kamen and Justin Wilkes.  The executive producers are Molly Thompson, Robert DeBitetto, Dave McKillop, Robert Friedman, Frank Scherma, Eddie Simon, Richard Story, Adam Block and Gil Aronow.  The cinematographer is Bob Richman and the editor is Joshua L. Pearson.

For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is series producer, and David Horn is executive producer.

Major funding for Great Performances is provided by the Irene Diamond Fund, the paulAnne Ray Charitable Trust, The Agnes Varis Trust, and PBS.

The story behind that film – Magical Mystery Tour – is revealed on Magical Mystery Tour Revisited on THIRTEEN’S Great Performances, Friday, December 14 at 9 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings).

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Magical Mystery Tour was chock-full of thinly veiled references to psychedelia, anarchy and fantasy, all in the setting of a traditional British sightseeing bus outing to the seaside. This was a far cry from the innocent loveable mop-top japery of Help! and A Hard Day’s Night.

Middle Britain had tuned in but was a long way from turning on and dropping out – the nation was baffled and outraged by the film’s unexpected and uncompromising surreal, non-linear narrative. Paul McCartney appeared on The Frost Programme on rival ITV the day after transmission. He was called upon to account for himself and the rest of the group.

Could it be that a pearl was cast before swine and then thrown away? To its small band of admirers, it was a masterpiece of surreal British wit and imagination in the tradition of The Goons and Alice in Wonderland.

Now with the film fully restored to the highest technical standard with a remixed soundtrack, it’s time to tell the extraordinary story of Magical Mystery Tour: why it was made, how it was made and the circumstances in which it was made. In the summer of 1967, The Beatles had the world at their feet. It’s impossible to overestimate the effect of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; that was revolutionary too but everyone loved it. In August, Brian Epstein tragically died, leaving the Beatles not only without a manager, but without their ambassador. They decided to go ahead with the film they’d been planning.

To tell the story, this film calls on those who were there, most notably Paul McCartney, who had the original idea, and Ringo Starr, who is credited as the director of photography. John Lennon and George Harrison are represented through interviews over the years and through their appearances in the film itself and in the copious and fascinating outtakes.

Line producer Gavrik Losey and cameraman Michael Seresin evoke the heady atmosphere of the shoot, along with Jeni Crowley and Sylvia Nightingale who, as teenagers, reported from the coach for The Beatles’ Fan Club magazine. Paul Fox, then controller of BBC One, recalls making the deal with The Beatles for the film. Also sharing their reminiscences are Peter Fonda, Paul Gambaccini, Terry Gilliam, Neil Innes, Paul Merton, Barry Miles, Annie Nightingale and Martin Scorsese.

Finally, this is a chance for the film’s admirers to have their say; its detractors have been given plenty of opportunities to have theirs. It provides a chance to evoke 1967 as it was – post-war Britain as much as the summer of love, when a new set of artists with The Beatles at the helm came up with an alchemy that turned the ordinary and the commonplace into the magical and mysterious.

Magical Mystery Tour Revisited was filmed and directed by Francis Hanly; Jonathan Clyde is producer; Anthony Wall is executive producer for BBC; and Jeff Jones is executive producer for Apple. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is series producer, and David Horn is executive producer.

Major funding for the Great Performances telecast is provided by the Irene Diamond Fund, The Starr Foundation, Vivian Milstein, The Agnes Varis Trust, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, and public television viewers.