Episodes

Stage and screen legend Julie Andrews returns for the sixth time to host the festive annual New Year’s celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic, under the direction of Zubin Mehta, from Vienna’s Musikverein. The Vienna State Ballet dances to both the “Students Polka” and the “Wine, Women and Song Waltz” in the palatial main building of Vienna’s 650-year-old university.

Hosted by Deborah Voigt, the special covers a wide range of operatic ground, from heartbreak to hilarity, delivered by such artists as Natalie Dessay, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming and more. Featuring 19 arias and duets selected from the past eight seasons of Great Performances at the Met broadcasts, performed by today’s greatest opera stars and talents. Check your local PBS station for air date.

In this exclusive interview, Tony Bennett and Gaga speak about being polarizing and respected public figures, as well as the importance of trusting your audience.

John Lithgow hosts a two-hour event with Grammy-, Emmy- and Tony-winning performers, along with co-host Jordin Sparks on September 13 at 8 pm, live from Baltimore's harbor. Performers celebrating the 200th anniversary of our national anthem include Kristin Chenoweth, Melissa Etheridge, Denyce Graves-Montgomery, Little Big Town, Pentatonix, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers, and Train.

Juan Diego Flórez's encore of the character Don Ramiro's aria "Si, ritrovarla io giuro" from Act II of Rossini's opera La Cenerentola. The performance at the Metropolitan Opera took place on May 6, 2014. See Flórez's entire performance as the dashing prince on Great Performances at the Met: La Cenerentola on Sunday, September 7 at noon on PBS (check local listings).

Joyce DiDonato sings the title role in Rossini’s Cinderella story, La Cenerentola, with bel canto master Juan Diego Flórez as her prince. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads a cast that also includes Pietro Spagnoli as the servant Dandini, Alessandro Corbelli as Cenerentola’s stepfather Don Magnifico, and Luca Pisaroni as Don Ramiro’s tutor, Alidoro, on GP at the Met, Sept. 7, 2014 at noon.

Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman and celebrated cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot join forces for a musical exploration of liturgical and traditional works in new arrangements for both chamber orchestra and klezmer settings. The music of “Rejoice” showcases the confluences between the violinist’s famed classical technique and Helfgot’s magnificent voice.

James Levine conducts Mozart’s romance Così fan tutte, a comic opera about the complications that ensue when two friends decide to test their fiancées’ fidelity. Rising Met stars include Susanna Phillips and Isabel Leonard as the sisters; Matthew Polenzani and Rodion Pogossov as their fiancés; and Danielle de Niese as their maid. Airs Aug. 24 at noon on PBS; on Aug. 31 at 12:30 pm on WNET in NY.

Led for the first time by a guest conductor Christoph Eschenbach, the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic returns for their 11th open-air concert in the magnificent gardens of Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace. The concert, featuring piano virtuoso Lang Lang and symphonic poems by Berlioz and Richard Strauss, airs on Great Performances, Friday, August 22 at 9 pm on PBS.

The acclaimed outdoor performance celebrating the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth is interspersed with archival footage and features Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and internationally acclaimed soloists Julianna Di Giacomo, Michelle DeYoung, Vittorio Grigolo and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo. Airs on Great Performances on Friday, August 1 at 9 pm.

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann stars as the tortured poet in the Met’s new production of Jules Massenet’s Werther on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, July 20 at 12 pm on PBS. (In New York, THIRTEEN airs the opera at 12:30 pm). Sophie Koch, a leading interpreter of the role Charlotte, plays opposite Kaufmann after their prior appearances together in Paris and Vienna in same roles.

Franco Zeffirelli’s production of La Bohème, the most-performed opera in Met history, starring Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo and Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais, airs on Great Performances at the Met on Friday, June 27 at 9 pm. Opolais made headlines when she made her company role debut as Mimì with a few hours notice, having sung the title role in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly the night before.

Borodin's Russian epic Prince Igor, performed by the Met for the first time in nearly 100 years, comes to Great Performances at the Met on June 22, 2014. The acclaimed new production by director Dmitri Tcherniakov, in his Met debut, stars Ildar Abdrazakov as the title character, a 12th-century ruler who defended Russia against invading Polovtsian forces.

Renée Fleming sings one of her signature roles, the title character in Dvo?ák's Rusalka, an opera about a water spirit's tragic romance with a prince. The story is drawn partly from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a cast that includes Piotr Beczala; Dolora Zajick; Emily Magee; and John Relyea as Rusalka's father, the Water Sprite.

Leo's kiss of true love breaks the curse that has held Princess Aurora (Hannah Vassallo) under its spell. After 100 years of sleep, Aurora discovers Leo (Dominic North) has been transformed in order to have eternal life and reunite with her. Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty airs on Great Performances, Friday, April 25 at 9 pm on PBS.