The Best Episodes of Great Performances Season 49

#1 Fan Favorite
9.0/10(9 votes)
#1 - Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2022
S49:E338/26/2022
Enjoy the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual summer night concert with cellist Gautier Capuçon under the direction of guest conductor Andris Nelsons at Austria’s Schönbrunn Palace.
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8.9/10(12 votes)
#2 - From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2022
S49:E151/1/2022
Ring in the new year in Austria at the Musikverein with the Vienna Philharmonic and host Hugh Bonneville in this annual concert of waltzes by Strauss and more under the baton of guest conductor Daniel Barenboim.
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8.2/10(21 votes)
#3 - Yannick – An Artist’s Journey
S49:E19/3/2021
Experience the music director of the Metropolitan Opera’s meteoric rise to become one of the most acclaimed and sought-after music directors of his generation in this documentary from cinema verité filmmaker Susan Froemke.
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8.2/10(18 votes)
#4 - Verdi’s Requiem: The Met Remembers 9/11
S49:E29/11/2021
Honor the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with this special performance hosted by Misty Copeland and led by Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin featuring soloists Ailyn Pérez, Michelle DeYoung, Matthew Polenzani and Eric Owens.
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8.0/10(9 votes)
#5 - Great Performances at the Met: Bryn Terfel & Friends in Concert
S49:E1312/3/2021
Recorded December 2020, the legendary bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel performs a holiday program accompanied by Jeff Howard on piano and the Welsh traditional folk group Calan from Brecon Cathedral in the singer’s native Wales.
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7.9/10(12 votes)
#6 - A John Williams Premiere at Tanglewood
S49:E811/12/2021
Experience a concert of works by legendary composer John Williams from Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home at Tanglewood including Williams’ new violin concerto performed by virtuoso Anne-Sophie Mutter and other works conducted by Andris Nelsons.
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The 20 BEST Episodes of Great Performances

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7.9/10(50 votes)
#7 - Anything Goes
S49:E275/13/2022
Enjoy this London production of Cole Porter’s classic musical led by Sutton Foster who reprises her Tony-winning role as Reno Sweeney directed by Kathleen Marshall with favorite songs like “I Get A Kick Out of You” and “You’re the Top.”
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7.7/10(8 votes)
#8 - Now Hear This "Aaron Copland - Dean of American Music"
S49:E244/22/2022
Scott Yoo explores the life and work of Aaron Copland, and how he created the American sound.
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7.7/10(55 votes)
#9 - Keeping Company with Sondheim
S49:E295/27/2022
Take an inside look at the reimagined gender-swapped production as it returns to Broadway during the COVID-19 pandemic. Features new interviews with Tony and Grammy-winning cast members Katrina Lenk, Patti LuPone, Sondheim and more.
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7.4/10(24 votes)
#10 - San Francisco Symphony Reopening Night
S49:E911/19/2021
Celebrate opening night of San Francisco Symphony’s 110th season as it welcomes its new GRAMMY-winning music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, featuring music by John Adams, esperanza spalding & Wayne Shorter and performances by Alonzo King LINES Ballet.
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7.3/10(17 votes)
#11 - Great Performances at the Met: Three Divas at Versailles
S49:E510/8/2021
Three-time GRAMMY winner Isabel Leonard joins Nadine Sierra and Ailyn Pérez to perform timeless selections by Mozart, Offenbach and Bizet including “Voi che sapete” and “Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour” along with beloved songs like “Bésame Mucho” and “Cielito Lindo.” The concert was recorded in May at the Royal Opera of Versailles in France and Met Opera soprano Christine Goerke hosts.
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7.0/10(24 votes)
#12 - The Red Shoes
S49:E39/17/2021
Experience Hans Christian Andersen’s dark fairytale from acclaimed director-choreographer Matthew Bourne with this Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation starring Ashley Shaw, Adam Cooper, Dominic North and Michaela Meazza.
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7.0/10(12 votes)
#13 - Great Performances at the Met: Wagnerians in Concert
S49:E711/5/2021
Recorded in May, a quartet of some of opera’s most powerful and dramatic singers comes together at the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, Germany. Sopranos Christine Goerke and Elza van den Heever, tenor Andreas Schager, and baritone Michael Volle perform a program of selections by Wagner and Strauss.
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7.0/10(7 votes)
#14 - Unforgettable With Love - Natalie Cole
S49:E1211/27/2021
Enjoy this special encore of Natalie Cole’s Emmy-winning concert of her GRAMMY-winning album in Great Performances: Unforgettable With Love - Natalie Cole. Featuring classics such as “Mona Lisa,” “The Very Thought of You” and “For Sentimental Reasons,” the concert also features a special performance of Nat King Cole’s signature song “Unforgettable” sung as a duet by Natalie Cole and her father.
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6.8/10(25 votes)
#15 - Great Performances at the Met: Sondra Radvanovsky & Piotr Beczala in Concert
S49:E410/1/2021
From the historic Stadthalle in Wuppertal, Germany, recorded in January, this world-famous soprano-tenor pair perform arias and duets from some of their many performances at the Met including Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier,” Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” “Luisa Miller” and Dvořák’s “Rusalka," accompanied by Vincenzo Scalera on piano.
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6.2/10(10 votes)
#16 - Coppelia
S49:E1011/26/2021
Enjoy this contemporary reboot of the 1870 ballet favorite that blends live-action ballet with CGI and features ballet stars Michaela DePrince and Daniel Camargo.
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5.7/10(18 votes)
#17 - Merry Wives
S49:E285/20/2022
Experience Shakespeare’s comedic masterpiece from the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. Set in South Harlem, the play tells the story of the trickster Falstaff and the wily wives who outwit him in a celebration of Black joy, laughter and vitality.
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5.1/10(15 votes)
#18 - Now Hear This "Beethoven's Ghost"
S49:E610/29/2021
Go inside the mind of a genius as host Scott Yoo and fellow musicians undertake a recording of Beethoven's most personal music at a historic Berkshires manor to explore the composer’s brilliant career—where they are visited by some unexpected guests.
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0.0/10(0 votes)
#19 - Great Performances at the Met: New Year's Eve Gala
S49:E1412/31/2021
The Met rings in the new year with a gala performance featuring stars Angel Blue, Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena and Matthew Polenzani. Performing from the Parktheater in Kurhaus Göggingen in Augsburg, Germany, the program features arias, duets and ensembles from Donizetti to Puccini, as well as arrangements of operetta and Neapolitan songs.
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0.0/10(0 votes)
#20 - Reopening: The Broadway Revival
S49:E161/18/2022
Go behind the scenes of Broadway as shows reunite, rehearse and re-stage for their long-awaited reopening nights while the theater industry learns how to turn the lights back on after its longest hiatus in history due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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0.0/10(0 votes)
#21 - Great Performances at the Met: Boris Godunov
S49:E172/6/2022
Bass René Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between ambition and paranoia. Conductor Sebastian Weigle leads Mussorgsky’s Russian masterwork in its original 1869 version. Stephen Wadsworth’s production captures the hope and suffering of the Russian people as well as the tsar himself. Met Opera soprano Angel Blue hosts.
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0.0/10(0 votes)
#22 - Great Performances at the Met: Eurydice
S49:E183/6/2022
The ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, who attempts to harness the power of music to rescue his beloved Eurydice from the Underworld, has inspired composers since opera’s earliest days. With a libretto by Sarah Ruhl adapted from her acclaimed 2003 play, the opera reimagines the familiar tale from Eurydice’s point of view.
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0.0/10(0 votes)
#23 - Movies for Grownups® Awards 2022 with AARP The Magazine
S49:E193/18/2022
First broadcast on PBS in 2018, Movies for Grownups Awards with AARP the Magazine returns for a fifth year 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. Each year the centerpiece honor is the Career Achievement Award, celebrating the contributions cinema legends.
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0.0/10(0 votes)
#24 - The Conductor
S49:E203/25/2022
Follow Marin Alsop’s journey to become the first female music director of a major American symphony despite repeated rejection by the classical music industry. Features archival footage with her mentor Leonard Bernstein and is set to a soundtrack of her performances.
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0.0/10(0 votes)
#25 - Great Performances at the Met: Fire Shut Up In My Bones
S49:E214/1/2022
Experience Grammy-winning composer Terence Blanchard and librettist Kasi Lemmon’s adaptation of Charles M. Blow’s memoir. James Robinson and Camille A. Brown co-direct with Brown also choreographing. Baritone Will Liverman stars with soprano Angel Blue.
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