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Private Notes
A collective journey from synagogue choirs to Harlem hot spots, from Yiddish theater to musical extravaganza, from klezmer to ragtime, from symphonic jazz to swing. All the way from the Bowery to Tin Pan Alley to Broadway to Hollywood - FROM SHTETL TO SWING recounts the ebullient story of a musical metamorphosis born in darkest Russia.
The Vienna State Opera House reopened on November 5, 1955, after being bombed during World War II. This concert, performed on November 5, 2005, in celebration of the reopening's 50th anniversary, broght together some of the world's leading opera stars and premier conductors to perform selections from the 1955 opera season.
To celebrate Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th birthday a gala concert is presented with the Vienna Philharmonic. Mozart's most memorable works are featured.
Carnegie Hall's opening night of the season features The Cleveland Orchestra performing an evening of Viennese favorites.
Various artists perform songs made famous by James Taylor, including Taylor himself. Song list: Shower The People -- The Dixie Chicks Rainy Day Man -- Bonnie Raitt Secret O'Life -- India.Arie Mexico -- Jackson Browne, David Crosby, and Sheryl Crow You Can Close Your Eyes -- Sting Everybody Has The Blues -- Dr. John and Taj Mahal Carolina In My Mind -- Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas Country Road -- Keith Urban Millworker -- Bruce Springsteen You've Got A Friend -- Carole King She A Little Light -- James Taylor How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) -- James Taylor Fire And Rain -- James Taylor
A tribute to Beverly Sills with performances by Sills and others, and clips from past performances
Garrison Keillor hosts a live New Year's Eve broadcast from Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mozart's "The Magic Flute," with Matthew Polenzani (Tamino); Nathan Gunn (Papageno); Erika Miklósa (Queen of the Night); René Pape (Sarastro); Ying Huang (Pamina); Greg Fedderly (Monostatos); and Jennifer Aylmer (Papagena). James Levine conducts.
Anna Netrebko stars in Bellini's bel canto opera "I Puritani" as a bride-to-be whose wedding day is disrupted when her betrothed (Eric Cutler) helps the condemned Queen Enrichetta (Maria Zifchak) escape from the Roundheads (Oliver Cromwell supporters during the English Civil War of the 1640s). Sir Riccardo Forth: Franco Vassallo. Sir Giorgio Walton: John Relyea. Lord Walton: Valerian Ruminski. Sir Bruno Robertson: Eduardo Valdes.
Sting and acclaimed Bosnian lute player Edin Karamazov perform songs of Elizabethan musician John Dowland.
Canadian Celtic artist Loreena McKennitt performs at Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.
Jerry Lee Lewis performs selections from his current album, "Last Man Standing." This album, released 50 years after his first album debuted, features new duet versions of his hit songs performed with a variety of singers.
Legendary pianist Daniel Barenboim performs five Beethoven sonatas.
Placido Domingo stars in “The First Emperor” as Chinese ruler Qin Shi Huang, who attempts to unify his kingdom with a national anthem penned by a childhood-friend-turned-composer (Paul Groves). Complications arise, however, when Qin's daughter Yueyang (Elizabeth Futral) seduces the songsmith. Composed by Tan Dun, who won an Oscar for his “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” score and cowrote the libretto with novelist Ha Jin. Shaman: Michelle DeYoung. Yueyang's Mother: Susanne Mentzer.
Tchaikovsky's “Eugene Onegin,” starring Renée Fleming as Tatiana, a young Russian who's rebuffed by the object of her affection, Eugene Onegin (Dmitri Hvorostovsky). Years later, after she has married a prince (Sergei Aleksashkin), the two meet again and Onegin realizes his error. Olga: Elena Zaremba. Larina: Svetlana Volkova. Lenski: Ramón Vargas.
Gioacchino Rossini's classic comic opera “The Barber of Seville” stars Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez as Count Almaviva, whose pursuit of the lovely Rosina (Joyce DiDonato) is aided by the wily barber Figaro (Peter Mattei). Standing in his way is her guardian Dr. Bartolo (John Del Carlo), who plans to marry her himself. Don Basilio: John Relyea. Fiorello: Brian Davis. Ambrogio: Rob Besserer.
April 25, 2007, would have been Ella Fitzgerald's 90th birthday. To celebrate, Great Performances has created an all-star tribute to the great jazz singer.
“Il Trittico,” Puccini's collection of three one-act operas. “Il Tabarro” concerns doomed lovers (Maria Guleghina, Salvatore Licitra); “Suor Angelica,” is about the salvation of a nun (Barbara Frittoli); “Gianni Schicchi” is a charismatic scoundrel (Alessandro Corbelli) out to steal a fortune willed to the church.
A follow-up to 2001s survey of African American dance, Free to Dance, Dancing in the Light included full performances that were not in the original series due to time restrictions.
A celebration of the Stax Records company of Memphis Tennessee with commentaries by former performers, executives and others. In it\'s heyday in the 1960s Stax recorded songs for such stars as Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs and Richard Pryor.
Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter Lionel Richie performs a concert of his famous hits and newer songs from his latest CD, Coming Home.
Recently discovered sources that were silenced in Soviet Russia now speak freely about the great dancer Rudolph Nureyev. Interviews with friends and colleagues trace his early career and his decision to defect in 1961. Includes archival footage never before seen in the West.
