Episodes

Music “hitman” David Foster returns to Las Vegas with a showstopping show jam packed with special guests including Seal, Donna Summer, Earth, Wind & Fire and more.

The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov starring Rene Pape as Boris and conducted by Valery Gergiev, will air on Thirteen’s Great Performances Sunday, February 13 at 12 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings). Stephen Wadsworth directs the company’s first new production of the opera since 1974.

Anna Netrebko revives her sensational turn in this sophisticated bel canto comedy, opposite Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and John Del Carlo in the title role. Met Music Director James Levine conducts. When Otto Schenk's production premiered in 2006, the New York Times acclaimed it as "brilliant" and "wonderful."

Stage and screen legend Julie Andrews returns to host the annual New Year's celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic, under the direction of Mariss Jansons from Vienna's Musikverein. The famed Vienna Boys' Choir will add their celestial voices to the gala. From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2012 airs live Sunday, January 1 at 2:30 p.m. (check local listings) with an encore at 7:30 p.m.

THIRTEEN's Great Performances spotlights the October 7 opening night concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music Director Gustavo Dudamel featuring renowned Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Actress Eva Mendes hosts the broadcast. The program will air Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).

In a year chock full of star-studded 80th birthday tributes to legendary Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, the March 15–16 gala evenings with the New York Philharmonic at New York’s Lincoln Center stood tall.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Conductor Emeritus Pierre Boulez will replace Music Director Riccardo Muti as conductor for the THIRTEEN Great Performances broadcast on Wednesday, October 27 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).

Director Rupert Goold's gripping stage production of Macbeth, set in a nameless 20th-century militaristic society and starring Sir Patrick Stewart in his Tony-nominated performance as the ambitious general, and Kate Fleetwood as his coldly scheming wife, has been rethought in vivid filmic terms.

America's favorite soprano, Renee Fleming, and Russia's greatest living baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, travel to St. Petersburg--the "Venice of the North"--where they perform great opera scenes in the magnificent palaces of the Czars in the former capital of Imperial Russia.

Shakespeare's immortal "To be, or not to be" takes on a whole new meaning (and medium) as classical stage and screen actors David Tennant and (recently-knighted) Sir Patrick Stewart reprise their roles for a modern-dress, film-for-television adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) 2008 stage production of Hamlet.

Multi-Grammy-winning phenomenon Michael Bublé returns to public television in Michael Bublé Meets Madison Square Garden, a musical concert that captures the star in a trademark, high-octane performance. Recorded at New York City’s famed arena, this program’s highlights include a show-stopping collection of Bublé’s hits not included on the DVD release.

Everyone’s favorite “Hitman” David Foster joins Great Performances superstar Andrea Bocelli for a new Christmas concert of holiday classics airing on Thanksgiving night. Showcasing Bocelli’s unmistakable soaring vocals are lush new arrangements infused with the distinctive Foster touch. The inspiring concert performance, recorded at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

Considered the most dynamic young conductor in classical music since Bernstein, 28-year-old Gustavo Dudamel begins his tenure as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in fall 2009. In this program, learn more about Dudamel, the LA Philharmonic, composer John Adams, and see a movement from John Adams' "City Noir" and Mahler's "Symphony No. 1 in D major" performed at his inaugural concert.

With a career spanning more than half a century, renowned folk artist, political activist, and avid environmentalist, Pete Seeger, turned 90 in May of 2009. In honor of the milestone birthday, a multi-generational roster of artists, whose music has been shaped by Seeger’s vision, gathered at Madison Square Garden on May 3 to celebrate his lifetime achievement.

Wicked’s Idina Menzel and Rent’s Adam Pascal join Great Performances favorite, internationally renowned vocalist Josh Groban in a spectacular London concert revival of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ 1986 cult musical Chess. Featuring diamond-sharp lyrics by Tim Rice (Evita, The Lion King), and the hit-filled production (“One Night in Bangkok,” “I Know Him So Well,” “The Anthem”).