Episodes

Libretto by Ha Jin and Tan Dun, based on the HISTORICAL RECORDS by Sima Qian (c. 145-85 BCE) and on Wei Lu's screenplay for THE EMPEROR'S SHADOW

The English civil war in the 1640s has divided the land between the supporters of Parliament under Oliver Cromwell (the Roundheads) and the Royalists who are faithful to the Stuart monarchy (the Cavaliers). King Charles I has been beheaded.

On the heels of her triumph in Jenufa, Finnish soprano Karita Mattila adds another landmark role to her Met repertory, the free-spirited beauty Manon Lescaut. Puccini’s early success tells the story of the magnetic attraction between two young lovers. Joined by acclaimed tenor Marcello Giordani and conducted by James Levine, Mattila finds the perfect vehicle for her exhilarating charisma.

When the heirs of Italian chemist, author and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi gave final approval for Antony Sher’s stage adaptation of Levi’s concentration camp memoir Survival in Auschwitz (U.S. title), they insisted the play should never be performed by anyone other than the distinguished actor himself. Their faith proved well placed.

Three ladies in the service of the Queen of the Night save the fainting Prince Tamino from a serpent ("A serpent! A monster!"). When they leave to tell the queen, the bird catcher Papageno bounces in and boasts to Tamino that it was he who killed the creature ("I'm Papageno").

Verdi’s powerful Shakespearean tragedy stars Serbian baritone Željko Lu?i? in the title role; Russian star soprano Anna Netrebko in her North American debut as Lady Macbeth; German bass René Pape as Banquo, one of the victims of Macbeth's bloody rise to the throne; and Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja as Macbeth's heroic rival Macduff. Airs Feb 1 at noon on PBS (at 12:30 pm in New York).

Soprano Anna Netrebko teams up with tenor Roberto Alagna in Charles Gounod’s sensual interpretation of Shakespeare’s timeless love story. Originally premiered in 1867, Gounod’s opera was a triumph in its time, and is still praised today for its remarkable musical take on Shakespeare. Plácido Domingo presides on the conductor’s podium for this tour-de-force presentation.

The second season of GREAT PERFORMANCES at The Met on PBS features 14 operas from the Met’s series of live high-definition transmissions initially presented in movie theaters around the world. The season launches with the family favorite Hansel and Gretel, in a production by Richard Jones, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Sergei Prokofiev's fanciful musical tale "Peter and the Wolf" is given new life in this innovative new animated interpretation, which won the 2008 Oscar® for Best Animated Short Film. "Oldies will remember the work from school music lessons," wrote London's OBSERVER, "while those coming to the story for the first time will be delighted with this darkly comic modernization."

Nearly 40 years after the release of his first single, beloved singer-songwriter James Taylor continues to captivate legions of fans with his characteristic, folk-inspired sound. The recipient of five Grammy® awards, and both a Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, Taylor has enjoyed an illustrious career and is widely acknowledged as a premier musician.

Opening with the national anthems of North Korea and the United States, The New York Philharmonic performs in the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre, with coverage by Bob Woodruff of ABC, which has had rare access inside the closed society of the DPRK, where contact with the outside world is completely forbidden to citizens. The New York Philharmonic visit marks the first by American artists there.

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli grew up in Lajatico, a rural village in Tuscany, where his family still farms nearby. On the slopes of this ancient hill town, a special theater was constructed for a one-night-only concert of his greatest popular hits along with new songs performed to honor the occasion. Some famous musical friends dropped by and the magical result is VIVERE: ANDREA BOCELLI LIVE IN TU

Based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC, Rodgers & Hammerstein's own Pulitzer Prize-winning blockbuster was a landmark of post-World War II Broadway, a provocative romantic drama that beguiled audiences with a hit parade of instant standards.

In the summer of 2004, a spectacular gathering of musicians from across the guitar world performed together at Eric Clapton's three-day Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas. GREAT PERFORMANCES presents highlights from the unprecedented event featuring a once-in-a-lifetime showcase of guitar luminaries performing rock anthems, blues classics, and bluegrass hits.

Rock music's most celebrated musicians gathered at London's Royal Albert Hall on November 29, 2002 to pay tribute to one of their own, the legendary George Harrison, on the one-year anniversary of his death. On that magical night, Harrison's closest friends gathered to perform a collection of his music for a live audience. Far more than a concert film, CONCERT FOR GEORGE.