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A concert honors Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Queen, conductor John Williams, The Meters and other recipients of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement, Trustee and Music Educator awards.
The 2017 production of George Gershwin's "An American in Paris" features Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope.
A U.K. production of "The Sound of Music," the long-running musical about the von Trapp Family Singers and their escape from Austria at the height of Nazism.
Go behind-the-scenes of John Leguizamo’s Tony-nominated one-man show, Latin History for Morons, a comic but pointed look at how Hispanic culture has been portrayed and repressed throughout American history.
Revisit the legendary career of the pioneering Broadway producer and director, winner of 21 Tony Awards, with this retrospective celebration featuring Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Mandy Patinkin, John Kander, Susan Stroman, and Angela Lansbury.
Join Tony Bennett and Diana Krall as they celebrate the American Songbook classics of George and Ira Gershwin, performing favorites from their Billboard #1 jazz album, “Love is Here to Stay,” such as “I Got Rhythm,” “Love is Here to Stay” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”
Experience superstar singer Michael Bublé’s visually thrilling and musically triumphant ‘To Be Loved Tour’ featuring performances of his biggest hits including “Home” and “Haven’t Met You Yet” along with exclusive footage of Team Bublé travels.
Celebrate the 25th anniversary Ingénue, the critically acclaimed and GRAMMY®-award winning album by superstar singer-songwriter k.d. lang with a one-night-only performance from the magnificent Majestic Theater in downtown San Antonio, Texas.
In honor of Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday, Tanglewood—the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra—dedicated its entire 2018 season to the iconic composer, conductor, performer, educator and humanitarian.
Conducted by Nicola Luisotti, Aida stars vocal powerhouses Anna Netrebko in the title role and Anita Rachvelishvili as Amneris as they go toe to toe in this classic love story featuring a number of Verdi’s most celebrated arias. Aleksandrs Antonenko, Dmitry Belosselskiy and Ryan Speedo Green round out the cast. Sonja Frisell’s production is set in ancient Egypt, where Ethiopian princess Aida has been enslaved, but her royal identity remains a secret. The captured princess is in love with Radamès, the great warrior who dreams of leading the Egyptians to victory over the Ethiopians as a war between the two nations is on the horizon. Trouble arises as the Egyptian Pharaoh’s daughter Amneris sets her sights on winning Radamès’s love, but suspects he is infatuated with another woman after the warrior does not return her feelings. A rivalry ensues when Aida confesses her love for Radamès and Amneris vows revenge. Torn between a love for one another and loyalty to their respective countries, Aida and Radamès must battle public duties and private feelings in this epic love story. Isabel Leonard hosts.
Great Performances continues the cherished tradition of ringing in the new year with the Vienna Philharmonic at the opulent Musikverein. Under the baton of guest conductor Christian Thielemann, the celebration features favorite Strauss Family waltzes and the dancing of the Vienna State Ballet. Downton Abbey’s Earl of Grantham, Hugh Bonneville, returns as host.
Great Performances: The Cleveland Orchestra Centennial Celebration commemorates the centennial of the orchestra’s founding with a gala concert conducted by music director Franz Welser-Möst featuring works touching on more than a century of Viennese musical traditions. World-renowned, Grammy-nominated pianist Lang Lang joins the orchestra in a special performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24. The concert also features “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” (The Woman Without a Shadow), Symphonic Fantasy by Richard Strauss and Maurice Ravel’s viscerally cataclysmic “La Valse (The Waltz),” which dramatically evokes the changing artistic worlds between the 19th and 20th centuries.
Reimagine Christoph Willibald Gluck’s enduringly popular opera based on the famous Greek myth. From Lyric Opera of Chicago in collaboration with the Joffrey Ballet. Starring Dmitry Korchak, Andriana Chuchman and Lauren Snouffer.
Doubt unfolds as suspicion ignites a battle of wills at a Bronx Catholic school in 1964. The charismatic and progressive Father Flynn is trying to loosen the grip of St. Nicholas Church School’s strict customs, which are fiercely guarded by its iron-fisted principal, Sister Aloysius Beauvier. When the young and naïve Sister James shares her suspicion with the principal that Father Flynn may be abusing the school’s only African-American student, Sister Aloysius embarks on a personal crusade to discover the truth about the priest. With no proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius engages in a battle of wills with Father Flynn in this new opera.
With conductor Robert Spano, singers Isabel Leonard and Christopher Maltman star in composer Nico Muhly's reimagining of Winston Graham's "Marnie," a novel about a beautiful, but mysterious woman who assumes multiple identities.
The AARP Movies for Grownups multimedia franchise was established in 2002 to celebrate and encourage filmmaking with unique appeal to movie lovers with a grownup state of mind—and recognize the inspiring artists who make them.
Based on David Belasco’s play The Girl of the Golden West, Puccini’s American opera stars Eva-Maria Westbroek as the heroine Minnie alongside Jonas Kaufmann as the outlaw she loves, Dick Johnson. Željko Lučić, Carlo Bosi, Michael Todd Simpson, Matthew Rose and Oren Gradus round out the cast. Marco Armiliato conducts. Giancarlo del Monaco’s production is set during the California Gold Rush of the 19th century at the Polka Saloon, owned by Minnie. A strong and independent woman, Minnie has won the affection of the many men at the miners’ camp who frequent her saloon, including that of Jack Rance, the camp’s cynical sheriff. Later, a stranger enters the saloon and introduces himself as Dick Johnson. Minnie recognizes Dick as a man she once met on the road, but little does she know that he is actually Ramerrez, the notorious Mexican bandit on the run from authorities. Minnie and Dick begin a forbidden romance, but when his true identity is revealed, it is up to Minnie to save him in this western tale of sacrifice and redemption. Susanna Phillips hosts.
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.”
The songs of legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell’s are among the most sublime musical landscapes of human emotion ever created. Mitchell’s unique musical and lyrical gifts are an unprecedented marriage of intimacy and universality, creating a sound that is incomparable, yet relatable to all.
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 the arts features rare television and archival footage highlighting her remarkable talents. Shot in the locations that were close to Nilsson’s heart, including the Bayreuth Festival in Germany, the Vienna State Opera in Austria, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the farm in Båstad, Sweden where she grew up, the film also includes interviews with friends and fellow opera luminaries, including Plácido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Nina Stemme, Jonas Kaufmann and many others.
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.
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.
Conducted by new Metropolitan Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, La Traviata stars Diana Damrau in the pinnacle soprano role of Violetta alongside Juan Diego Flórez as her hapless lover Alfredo and Quinn Kelsey as his father Germont. Michael Mayer’s new production follows courtesan Violetta Valéry, who knows she will die soon and wishes to leave her professional life for a chance at love. After meeting the charming Alfredo Germont at a party, the two begin a relationship and move to the country in an effort to enjoy their love away from society. A tumultuous visit from Alfredo’s father, the bourgeois Giorgio Germont, casts doubt in Violetta’s heart for the future of their relationship, causing her to abandon their love nest. After seeing Violetta on the arm of a baron, a jealous Alfredo must fight for his love and reunite with her before it is too late. Anita Rachvelishvili hosts.
Cilea’s classic Adriana Lecouvreur starring Anna Netrebko in the title role of the real-life French actress, alongside Piotr Beczała as her lover Maurizio and Anita Rachvelishvili as her rival, the Princess of Bouillon. Carlo Bosi, Ambrogio Maestri, and Maurizio Muraro round out the cast. Gianandrea Noseda conducts. Sir David McVicar’s production takes place in 1730s Paris, where actress Adriana Lecouvreur is preparing for the stage. While alone, her director Michonnet professes his love to her, but Adriana informs him that she is in love with Maurizio, believing him to be an officer to the Count of Saxony. However, Maurizio is hiding two secrets; he is in fact the Count of Saxony himself, and he is also having an affair with the Princess of Bouillon, who has helped him pursue his political ambitions. Following a chance meeting at a party and subsequent escape plot, Adriana and the princess realize they are both in love with Maurizio but do not immediately recognize one another. Now rivals, Adriana and the princess are determined to discover one another’s identity while doing whatever it takes to win Maurizio’s heart. Matthew Polenzani hosts.
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 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.
Experience a Wagnerian event for the ages starring Christine Goerke as the willful warrior Brünnhilde alongside Stuart Skelton, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Greer Grimsley. Philippe Jordan conducts.
Enjoy the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic’s annual concert from Schönbrunn Palace with guest conductor Gustavo Dudamel and famed pianist Yuja Wang playing works including Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue" and Sousa’s "The Stars and Stripes Forever."
Poulenc’s classic Dialogues des Carmélites. Metropolitan Opera Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts this devastating story of faith and martyrdom starring Isabel Leonard in the touching role of Blanche de la Force alongside Adrianne Pieczonka as Madame Lidoine, Erin Morley as Sister Constance, Karen Cargill as Mother Marie and Karita Mattila, returning to the Met as Madame de Croissy, the prioress of the monastery.
