Great Performances - Season 51

1. Great Performances at the Met: Der Rosenkavalier

Aired: 9/10/2023

Strauss’s grand Viennese comedy includes soprano Lise Davidsen as the aging Marschallin, opposite mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as her lover Octavian and soprano Erin Morley as Sophie, the beautiful younger woman who steals his heart. Bass Günther Groissböck returns as the churlish Baron Ochs, and Markus Brück is Sophie’s wealthy father, Faninal. Maestro Simone Young takes the Met podium to oversee Robert Carsen’s staging. Deborah Voigt hosts.

2. Great Performances at the Met: Don Giovanni

Aired: 10/1/2023

Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove makes his Met debut with a new take on Mozart’s tragicomedy, re-setting the familiar tale of deceit and damnation in an abstract architectural landscape. Maestro Nathalie Stutzmann also makes her Met debut, conducting the cast led by baritone Peter Mattei in the title role alongside bass-baritone Adam Plachetka as Leporello. Sopranos Federica Lombardi, Ana María Martínez and Ying Fang portray Giovanni’s conquests—Donna Anna, Donna Elvira and Zerlina—and tenor Ben Bliss is Don Ottavio. Erin Morley hosts.

3. New York City Ballet in Madrid

Aired: 10/27/2023

Captured in peak performance at Madrid’s Teatro Real, New York City Ballet performs two masterpieces choreographed by NYCB co-founder and original Artistic Director George Balanchine, “Serenade” and “Square Dance" as well as a piece by current resident choreographer Justin Peck.

4. Message In A Bottle

Aired: 11/3/2023

Experience five-time Olivier Award nominee Kate Prince’s dance and theater show set to the songs of 17-time Grammy winner Sting. Telling the story of a migrant family, the show from London’s Sadler's Wells Theatre features a mix of dance styles.

5. Great Performances at the Met: Champion

Aired: 11/5/2023

Six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard returns to the Met with an opera based on the true story of boxer Emile Griffith, who rose from obscurity to become a world champion despite being a closeted bisexual. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green stars as the young boxer, with bass-baritone Eric Owens as Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past. Soprano Latonia Moore also stars as Emelda Griffith, the boxer’s estranged mother, and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe plays the gay bar owner, Kathy Hagen. The production reunites the creative team from last season’s Great Performances at the Met: Fire Shut Up in My Bones, including conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, director James Robinson, and choreographer Camille A. Brown. Lawrence Brownlee hosts.

6. Making Shakespeare: The First Folio

Aired: 11/17/2023

Celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, which saved 18 plays from being lost. Tracing the First Folio’s story, the film also spotlights how New York City’s Public Theater presents Shakespeare’s work for today’s audiences.

7. Great Performances at the Met: Die Zauberflöte

Aired: 12/10/2023

Experience director Simon McBurney’s Met debut with a new production of this Mozart favorite. Nathalie Stutzmann conducts with Lawrence Brownlee as Tamino, Erin Morley as Pamina, Thomas Oliemans as Papageno and Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night.

8. From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2024

Aired: 1/1/2024

Celebrate the New Year with waltzes by Strauss and more performed from Vienna’s Musikverein by the famed orchestra led by guest conductor Christian Thielemann. PBS favorite Hugh Bonneville returns to host.

9. Great Performances at the Met: The Life and Times of Malcolm X

Aired: 2/4/2024

Experience Anthony Davis’s groundbreaking opera directed by Tony nominee Robert O’Hara. The new staging portrays Malcolm as an Everyman whose story transcends time and space. Supported by a cast of young Met stars, Will Liverman sings Malcolm X.

10. The LA Phil Celebrates Frank Gehry

Aired: 2/16/2024

Celebrate 20 years at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the LA Phil in a tribute to its architect. Led by Gustavo Dudamel, the concert includes a piece composed and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, performances by Herbie Hancock and H.E.R., and more.

11. George Jones: Still Playin’ Possum

Aired: 2/23/2024

Honoring one of the most influential, storied and beloved country music icons in history, Great Performances – George Jones: Still Playin’ Possum is an all-star celebration. Jones’ hits including “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair,” “The Race Is On,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today” and many more are performed by Travis Tritt, Tanya Tucker, Brad Paisley, Jelly Roll, Dierks Bentley, Sam Moore, Wynonna, Jamey Johnson, Uncle Kracker, Trace Adkins, Lorrie Morgan, Joe Nichols and other country stars accompanied by a band of Nashville’s top players. Recorded April 25, 2023, at from the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the tribute marked the 10th anniversary of Jones’ passing.

12. Great Performances at the Met: Dead Man Walking

Aired: 3/15/2024

13. Great Performances at the Met: Florencia en el Amazonas

Aired: 4/7/2024

14. Now Hear This

Aired: 4/12/2024

15. Now Hear This

Aired: 4/19/2024

16. Now Hear This

Aired: 4/26/2024

17. Now Hear This

Aired: 5/3/2024

18. Great Performances at the Met: Nabucco

Aired: 5/5/2024

19. Hamlet

Aired: 5/10/2024

20. Audra McDonald at the London Palladium

Aired: 5/17/2024

21. Purlie Victorious

Aired: 5/24/2024

22. Rodgers & Hammerstein's 80th Anniversary

Aired: 5/31/2024