Episodes

From Irving Berlin to Stephen Sondheim, and from Fanny Brice to Barbra Streisand, the film explores the phenomenon of how Jewish-American songwriters created a uniquely American art form

The story behind the controversial and surreal Beatles film features new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Watch a preview of the upcoming Great Performances holiday special, Rod Stewart: Merry Christmas, Baby.

Robert Lepage’s acclaimed new production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, will air on Great Performances at the Met, September 11-14 in primetime each night on PBS stations (check local listings), as a major television event.

Paul McCartney’s Live Kisses captures the magical night of February 9 in the City of Angels when Paul McCartney decided to bring Kisses On The Bottom, his newly released collection of pop standards and two originals, to life. The very special event will air on Great Performances, Friday, September 7 at 9 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.)

Under the baton of the dynamic and electric guest maestro, Gustavo Dudamel, the Vienna Philharmonic performs the finale of Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” from the opera “La Gioconda.”

Acclaimed French soprano Natalie Dessay makes her Met role debut as Violetta, the fallen woman who sacrifices her last chance for love, in Verdi’s La Traviata airing on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances at the Met Sunday, August 26 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

THIRTEEN’s Great Performances will present 12-year-old classical crossover prodigy Jackie Evancho’s second television special Jackie Evancho: Music of the Movies, in August on PBS (check local listings).

The concert features the BSO, Boston Pops Orchestra and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, under the direction of conductors John Williams, Keith Lockhart and Andris Nelsons. Performances by pianists Emanuel Ax and Peter Serkin, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and vocalist James Taylor. Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration premieres Friday, August 10 at 9pm(check local listings).

Star soprano Anna Netrebko sings her first Met performances of the title role in Manon, Massenet’s opera about a country girl with conflicting desires for love and luxury who is drawn into a life of glamorous.

Angela Meade, Marcello Giordani, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Ferruccio Furlanetto star in Verdi’s Ernani airing on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances at the Met Sunday, June 17 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

The Enchanted Island is a world premiere work that combines Baroque music with a new, English-language libretto featuring characters from Shakespeare, and a starry cast including Danielle de Niese, Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, Plácido Domingo, and Luca Pisaroni. It airs Friday, May 18 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). In New York, THIRTEEN will air an encore on Sunday, May 13 at 12 p.m.

Three of the opera world’s leading stars—Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, and René Pape—sing the principal roles in a new production of Gounod’s Faust, directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff in his Met debut. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met performances of the opera, which airs on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances at the Met Sunday, May 13, 2012.

Renee Fleming reprises one of her most popular interpretations: the title role in Handel's Rodelinda, under the baton of Baroque specialist Harry Bicket in the revival of Stephen Wadsworth's acclaimed production Sunday, April 22 at 12 p.m. (check local listings). In New York, THIRTEEN will premiere the program Thursday, April 19 at 8:30 p.m. with an encore Sunday, April 22 at 12:30 p.m.

San Francisco Symphony's Centennial Season opening night gala, conducted by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, will air Friday, March 30 at 9 p.m. (check local listings). The two-hour broadcast is hosted by author Amy Tan and features Tilson Thomas conducting the Orchestra and two of the leading artists of our time: legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman and the dynamic pianist Lang Lang.