Ring in the New Year with the Vienna Philharmonic, under the baton of conductor Christian Thielemann at the Musikverein. Hosted by Hugh Bonneville and featuring favorite Strauss Family waltzes accompanied by the dancing of the Vienna City Ballet.
Watch Donizetti’s romantic comedy about a budding military relationship starring Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena in a feast of bel canto vocal fireworks. Special guest Kathleen Turner makes her Met debut. Enrique Mazzola conducts.
Mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine reprises her remarkable portrayal of opera’s ultimate seductress, a triumph in her 2017 debut performances, with impassioned tenor Roberto Alagna as her lover, Don José. Louis Langrée conducts Sir Richard Eyre’s powerful production, a Met favorite since its 2009 premiere.
Watch Cilea’s classic opera starring Anna Netrebko in the title role of the real-life French actress who dazzled 18th-century audiences with her on-and offstage passion, with Piotr Beczała as her lover, Maurizio.
See Michael Mayer’s richly textured production of Verdi’s classic opera, starring soprano Diana Damrau as the tragic heroine Violetta and Juan Diego Flórez as her hapless lover Alfredo. Met Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.
Joining a month-long celebration of Women’s History Month, Great Performances: Birgit Nilsson: A League of Her Own is a performance-documentary celebrating the life and career of the era-defining Swedish dramatic soprano. With her unforgettable voice, Birgit Nilsson became the face of opera in the 1950s through the 1970s. She was best known for her groundbreaking turns in Wagner, Strauss, and Puccini operas such as Tristan und Isolde, Elektra, Turandot, Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Tannhäuser, and Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle). Showcasing her powerful voice paired with her outsized personality and wit, this illuminating documentary about Nilsson’s life in ...
Set in a women’s prison, Great Performances: Julius Caesar offers a powerful dramatization of the catastrophic consequences of a political leader’s extension of power beyond constitutional confines through an all-female lens. In this acclaimed Donmar Warehouse production directed Phyllida Lloyd (The Iron Lady, Mamma Mia!), Shakespeare’s famous discourse on power, loyalty and tragic idealism is heightened against the backdrop of female incarceration. Great Performances: Julius Caesar premieres nationwide Friday, March 29 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) and streams the following day on pbs.org/gperf and PBS apps.
Watch Saint-Saëns’s biblical epic based on the tale of Samson and Delilah from the Book of Judges. Starring tenor Roberto Alagna and mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča in the title roles. Sir Mark Elder conducts.
Join Great Performances for an international celebration of Andrea Bocelli’s 60th Birthday. World renowned for being equally at home in the worlds of popular music and opera, Great Performances spotlights both sides of the tenor’s career with a program of well-known arias spectacularly staged at Italy’s Arena di Verona. Also featured are songs from Bocelli’s new album, “Si,” performed at an all-white party in the picturesque Italian coastal town of Porto Venere. Bocelli’s son Matteo joins his father for a special performance of the duet “Fall on Me.” Beginning March 2, 2019 on PBS (check local listings)
