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Great Performances

Great Performances

Season 53

October 3, 2025 23 episodes

All Episodes

The Magic of Grace Bumbry
E1
Guide

E1. The Magic of Grace Bumbry

54m Oct 3, 2025

Discover Grace Bumbry’s inspiring rise to global opera fame. Spotlighting her historic performances, the film explores the racial barriers she overcame to triumph in her 1966 performance as "Carmen."

Great Performances at the Met: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
E2
Guide

E2. Great Performances at the Met: Il Barbiere di Siviglia

163m Oct 19, 2025

Rossini’s effervescent comedy retakes the stage in Bartlett Sher’s madcap production. Aigul Akhmetshina headlines a winning ensemble as the feisty heroine, Rosina, alongside Jack Swanson, in his Met debut, as her secret beloved, Count Almaviva. Andrey Zhilikhovsky stars as Figaro, the infamous barber of Seville, with Peter Kálmán as Dr. Bartolo and Alexander Vinogradov as Don Basilio.

Tiler Peck: Suspending Time
E3
Guide

E3. Tiler Peck: Suspending Time

55m Nov 7, 2025

Follow acclaimed ballerina Tiler Peck as she overcomes injury to reclaim her place on stage and debut her own choreography with New York City Ballet, revealing the resilience and artistry behind a modern-day prima ballerina.

Twelfth Night
E4
Guide

E4. Twelfth Night

113m Nov 14, 2025

The Shakespearean comedy of mistaken identity tells the romantic misadventures of twins Sebastian and Viola after they survive a shipwreck, including revenge plots and tricks of love. Recorded this summer at the newly renovated Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the production is directed by Tony Award nominee Saheem Ali.

Nutcracker from English National Ballet
E5
Guide

E5. Nutcracker from English National Ballet

83m Dec 16, 2025

Experience the holiday classic in a new light, featuring over 100 dancers and musicians performing at the London Coliseum.

From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2026
E6
Guide

E6. From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2026

126m Jan 1, 2026

The famed Vienna Philharmonic rings in the New Year with its annual concert from Vienna's Musikverein conducted for the first time by Yannick Nézet-Séguin with performances by the Vienna State Ballet and location segments hosted by Hugh Bonneville.

Movies for Grownups® Awards 2026 with AARP The Magazine
E7
Guide

E7. Movies for Grownups® Awards 2026 with AARP The Magazine

105m Feb 22, 2026

Iconic and beloved screen and stage performer Alan Cumming returns as host for this awards show in which Adam Sandler receives the Career Achievement Award.

Samara Joy at Royal Albert Hall
E8
Guide

E8. Samara Joy at Royal Albert Hall

55m Feb 27, 2026

A number one album and a double Grammy-win in 2023 put jazz vocalist Samara Joy on the map, officially establishing the Bronx native as the next jazz sensation and a legend in the making, with frequent comparisons to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. Fresh from another double win at the 2025 Grammys, Joy makes her much-anticipated debut at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall.

Great Performances at the Met: La Bohème
E9
Guide

E9. Great Performances at the Met: La Bohème

143m Mar 20, 2026

Experience Zeffirelli’s beloved production set in 19th-century Paris telling the story of Puccini’s young artists and lovers that share joy, passion, and heartbreak featuring Juliana Grigoryan as Mimì and Freddie De Tommaso as Rodolfo.

Great Performances at the Met: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
E10
Guide

E10. Great Performances at the Met: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

169m Apr 1, 2026

In this new adaptation of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel set shortly before the outbreak of World War II, two Jewish cousins invent an anti-fascist superhero and launch their own comic-book series, hoping to recruit America into the fight against Nazism.

Now Hear This – “Brahms: Free But Alone”
E11
Guide

E11. Now Hear This – “Brahms: Free But Alone”

54m Apr 10, 2026

Johannes Brahms was a quiet, private person, but he lived a full life, bearing a responsibility he didn’t want, a woman he couldn’t be with, and a legacy he couldn’t live up to. Scott Yoo journeys across Germany with pianist Elisabeth Brauss and cellists Johannes Moser and Max Hornung to find a window into Brahms’ inner life.

Great Performances at the Met: La Sonnambula
E12
Guide

E12. Great Performances at the Met: La Sonnambula

165m Apr 12, 2026

Nadine Sierra stars as Amina in Bellini’s tale of love lost and found. This new production by Rolando Villazón—the tenor who has embarked on a second career as a director—retains the opera’s original setting in the Swiss Alps but uses its plot to explore the emotional and psychological valleys of the mind.

Now Hear This – “Everyone Loves Joplin”
E13
Guide

E13. Now Hear This – “Everyone Loves Joplin”

54m Apr 17, 2026

Scott Joplin was the king of ragtime, a new kind music for the turn of the 20th century. Rick Benjamin’s Paragon Ragtime Orchestra takes Scott Yoo back in time to experience the music, movies and style of that era.

Now Hear This – “The Call of Istanbul”
E15
Guide

E15. Now Hear This – “The Call of Istanbul”

54m Apr 24, 2026

Istanbul sits at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, a melting pot of diverse peoples, languages and ideas. With star Turkish pianist Fazil Say, conductor Çem Mansur, and a host of Anatolian folk and Turkish jazz musicians, Scott Yoo and his wife, flutist Alice Dade, explore the city.

Now Hear This – “The Iceland Sound”
E16
Guide

E16. Now Hear This – “The Iceland Sound”

54m May 1, 2026

Fewer people live in Iceland than in Wichita, Kansas, yet it produces some of the best musicians in the world. To find out how, Scott Yoo crosses this sunlit, rainy, volcanic land of extremes to meet composers Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Daniel Bjarnason, popular musician JFDR, instrument makers, music historians, and one of Iceland’s most famous chefs.

Josh Groban: An Intimate Evening at The Union Chapel
E17
Guide

E17. Josh Groban: An Intimate Evening at The Union Chapel

77m May 8, 2026

Josh Groban returns to PBS in a special, personal concert staged in the intimate and historic setting of London’s Union Chapel. Recorded in October 2025, the concert captures the acclaimed vocalist showcasing his most beloved songs alongside new material, all reimagined within the chapel’s acoustics. Between songs, Groban speaks about what makes these songs personal to him.

Suffs
E18
Guide

E18. Suffs

135m May 8, 2026

Created by Tony Award winner Shaina Taub, this musical recorded from Broadway tells the story of the American suffragist movement and the remarkable friendships, heartbreak, and action that brought women together—or, in some cases, tore them apart.

Irving Berlin’s Top Hat
E19
Guide

E19. Irving Berlin’s Top Hat

131m May 15, 2026

Inspired by the iconic 1935 movie musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, this acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre revival recorded from the West End in January 2026 is directed and choreographed by three-time Tony winner Kathleen Marshall.

Great Performances at the Met: Arabella
E20
Guide

E20. Great Performances at the Met: Arabella

163m May 17, 2026

Strauss’ romance brings the glamour of 19th-century Vienna to the Met stage in a production by legendary Otto Schenk. Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen makes her role debut as Arabella, a young noblewoman in search of love on her own terms. Soprano Louise Alder makes her Met debut as her sister, Zdenka, and bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny is the count who sweeps Arabella off her feet.

An Evening with Nicole Scherzinger
E21
Guide

E21. An Evening with Nicole Scherzinger

84m May 22, 2026

Recorded in October 2025, Nicole Scherzinger performs at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the first time in her first major UK solo show in 13 years. Accompanied by a full orchestra, Scherzinger sings a mix of beloved Broadway standards and pop hits from her career as lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls.

Great Performances at the Met: Andrea Chénier
E22

E22. Great Performances at the Met: Andrea Chénier

Jun 14, 2026

Giordano’s tragedy stars tenor Piotr Beczała as the virtuous poet who falls victim to the intrigue and violence of the French Revolution. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva stars as Chénier’s aristocratic lover, Maddalena di Coigny, with baritone Igor Golovatenko as Carlo Gérard. Daniele Rustioni takes the podium to lead Nicolas Joël’s staging.

Great Performances at the Met: I Puritani
E23

E23. Great Performances at the Met: I Puritani

Jul 12, 2026

Charles Edwards makes his company directorial debut after many successes as a set designer, while soprano Lisette Oropesa and tenor Lawrence Brownlee star as Elvira and Arturo, brought together by love and torn apart by the political rifts of the English Civil War. Marco Armiliato conducts with baritone Artur Ruciński.

Great Performances at the Met: Eugene Onegin
E24

E24. Great Performances at the Met: Eugene Onegin

Aug 21, 2026

Soprano Asmik Grigorian returns to the Met as Tatiana, the lovestruck young heroine in Tchaikovsky’s opera adaptation of Pushkin’s novel. Baritone Igor Golovatenko reprises his portrayal of Onegin, who realizes his affection for her all too late. Tony Award winner Deborah Warner directs.

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