Episodes

Shortly before the demolition of New York City's Shea Stadium in July 2008, Billy Joel electrified audiences with two memorable concerts at the arena. Joel's special guests included Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, and Sir Paul McCartney whose 1965 appearance there with the Beatles was so iconic. Hear those songs performed in full in Billy Joel: Live at Shea Stadium airing March on Great Performances.

Taped in July of 2010 at New York's Neil Simon Theater, Harry Connick, Jr. in Concert on Broadway features Connick's big band and a 12-piece string section, with the star on both a Steinway grand and upright honky-tonk piano. The program will air Wednesday, March 2 at 9:30 p.m. (check local listings).

Music “hitman” David Foster returns to Las Vegas with a showstopping show jam packed with special guests including Seal, Donna Summer, Earth, Wind & Fire and more.

Adapted from a play by Alexander Pushkin about the extraordinary reign of the 16th-century tsar, Boris Godunov is regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Russian operatic repertoire. The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov starring Rene Pape as Boris and conducted by Valery Gergiev, will air on Sunday, February 13 at 12 p.m. ET (check local listings).

Anna Netrebko revives her sensational turn in this sophisticated bel canto comedy, opposite Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and John Del Carlo in the title role. Met Music Director James Levine conducts. When Otto Schenk's production premiered in 2006, the New York Times acclaimed it as "brilliant" and "wonderful."

Stage and screen legend Julie Andrews returns to host the annual New Year's celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic, under the direction of Mariss Jansons from Vienna's Musikverein. The famed Vienna Boys' Choir will add their celestial voices to the gala. From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2012 airs live Sunday, January 1 at 2:30 p.m. (check local listings) with an encore at 7:30 p.m.

THIRTEEN's Great Performances spotlights the October 7 opening night concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music Director Gustavo Dudamel featuring renowned Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Actress Eva Mendes hosts the broadcast. The program will air Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).

Performed on Sondheim's 80th birthday in March 2010, Great Performances presents the New York Philharmonic's salute to a true Broadway legend on November 24. Hosted by David Hyde Pierce, gathering to celebrate are acclaimed Sondheim alumni as Laura Benanti, Michael Cerveris, Victoria Clark, Joanna Gleason, Nathan Gunn, Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, and many more.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Conductor Emeritus Pierre Boulez leads the Windy City's internationally renowned orchestra in Gustav Mahler's "Symphony No. 7." The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association has announced that Music Director Riccardo Muti must withdraw from fall performances due to illness. The change in conductor necessitated the change in the evening’s program to Mahler's Symphony No. 7.

Director Rupert Goold's gripping stage production of Macbeth, set in a nameless 20th-century militaristic society and starring Sir Patrick Stewart in his Tony-nominated performance as the ambitious general, and Kate Fleetwood as his coldly scheming wife, has been rethought in vivid filmic terms.

America's favorite soprano, Renee Fleming, and Russia's greatest living baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, travel to St. Petersburg where they perform opera scenes in the palaces of the Czars in the former capital of Imperial Russia. Renee Fleming & Dmitri Hvorostovsky: A Musical Odyssey in St. Petersburg premieres on Great Performances Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 8 pm (check local listings).

Shakespeare's immortal "To be, or not to be" takes on a whole new meaning (and medium) as classical stage and screen actors David Tennant and (recently-knighted) Sir Patrick Stewart reprise their roles for a modern-dress, film-for-television adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) 2008 stage production of Hamlet.

Multi-Grammy-winning phenomenon Michael Bublé returns to public television in Michael Bublé Meets Madison Square Garden, a musical concert that captures the star in a trademark, high-octane performance. Recorded at New York City’s famed arena, this program’s highlights include a show-stopping collection of Bublé’s hits not included on the DVD release.

Everyone’s favorite “Hitman” David Foster joins Great Performances superstar Andrea Bocelli for a new Christmas concert of holiday classics airing on Thanksgiving night. Showcasing Bocelli’s unmistakable soaring vocals are lush new arrangements infused with the distinctive Foster touch. The inspiring concert performance, recorded at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

Considered the most dynamic young conductor in classical music since Bernstein, 28-year-old Gustavo Dudamel begins his tenure as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in fall 2009. In this program, learn more about Dudamel, the LA Philharmonic, composer John Adams, and see a movement from John Adams' "City Noir" and Mahler's "Symphony No. 1 in D major" performed at his inaugural concert.