The BEST episodes of Great Performances season 39
Every episode of Great Performances season 39, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Great Performances season 39!
Great Performances, a television series devoted to the performing arts, has been telecast on PBS since 1972. The show is produced by WNET in New York City. It is one of the longest running performing arts anthologies on television, second only to Hallmark Hall of Fame. Great Performances presents concerts, ballet, opera, an occasional documentary, and plays. The series has also won many television awards, including an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, and an Image Award, with nods from the Directors Guild of America and the Cinema Audio Society.
#1 - Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2011
Season 39 - Episode 3 - Aired 8/19/2011
Watch Now:Amazon#2 - Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration
Season 39 - Episode 27 - Aired 8/10/2012
A celebration to mark Tanglewood's 75th anniversary includes the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and artists Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Peter Serkin and James Taylor.
#3 - Great Performances at the Met: Don Giovanni
Season 39 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/30/2012
Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads his first Met performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in a new production directed by Tony Award winner Michael Grandage in his Met debut The classic tale of lust, heartbreak, and revenge stars charismatic Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien in his first-ever Met performances of the notorious title character. For the first time with Don Giovanni at the Met, Luisi conducts the performance from a cembalo in the orchestra pit. Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka and German soprano Mojca Erdmann make their Met debuts as two of Giovanni’s female conquests, Donna Anna and Zerlina, opposite distinguished Mozartean Barbara Frittoli as the fiery Donna Elvira. Tenor Ramón Vargas sings the role of Donna Anna’s fiancé, the nobleman Don Ottavio, and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni is Giovanni’s hapless manservant Leporello. Joshua Bloom sings the shepherd Masetto and Štefan Kocán is the vengeful Commendatore.
#4 - Great Performances at the Met: Satyagraha
Season 39 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/22/2012
#5 - Great Performances at the Met: Rodelinda
Season 39 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/22/2012
#6 - Great Performances at the Met: Faust
Season 39 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/13/2012
#7 - Great Performances at the Met: The Enchanted Island
Season 39 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/18/2012
A contemporary take on the 18th-century tradition of operatic “pasticcios” (pastiches), in which new librettos were combined with music from various compositions to create entirely new theatrical pieces. The tradition was particularly popular in London, where Handel was a prominent practitioner. The score for The Enchanted Island comprises selections from a variety of Baroque operas, cantatas, and oratorios, many of which are rarely performed in contemporary opera houses.
#8 - Great Performances at the Met: Ernani
Season 39 - Episode 23 - Aired 6/17/2012
#9 - Twilight: Los Angeles
Season 39 - Episode 24 - Aired 6/29/2012
#10 - San Francisco Symphony at 100
Season 39 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/30/2012
#11 - Great Performances at the Met: Manon
Season 39 - Episode 26 - Aired 8/5/2012
#12 - Jackie Evancho: Music of the Movies
Season 39 - Episode 25 - Aired 8/3/2012
#13 - Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2012
Season 39 - Episode 29 - Aired 8/31/2012
#14 - Great Performances at the Met: La Traviata
Season 39 - Episode 28 - Aired 8/26/2012
Natalie Dessay stars in Willy Decker's production of Verdi's opera ''La Traviata.''
#15 - Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park
Season 39 - Episode 30 - Aired 12/2/2011
The program: La Forza del Destino Ouverture Alan Gilbert, New York Philharmonic “La donna ė mobile” (Rigoletto) Andrea Bocelli “Di quella pira” (Il Trovatore) Andrea Bocelli “Va Tosca! (Te Deum)” (Tosca) Bryn Terfel, Choir “Ave Maria ‘Ellens dritter Gesang’” Andrea Bocelli “Vicino a te s’acqueta” (Andrea Chenier) Andrea Bocelli, Ana Maria Martinez “Au fond du temple saint” (Les Pêcheurs de Perles) Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel “O Soave Fanciulla” (La Bohème) Andrea Bocelli, Pretty Yende “Libiano ne’lieti calici” (La Traviata) Andrea Bocelli, Pretty Yende, Choir “Home on the Range” Bryn Terfel, Choir “En Aranjuez con tu amor” Andrea Bocelli, Nicola Benedetti (violin) “’O Sole Mio” Andrea Bocelli, Choir “Once Upon a Time in the West” Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, Chris Botti (trumpet) “Volare” Andrea Bocelli, David Foster “The Prayer” Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, David Foster “New York, New York” Andrea Bocelli, Tony Bennett “Amazing Grace” Andrea Bocelli, Choir “Time to Say Goodbye” Andrea Bocelli, Ana Maria Martinez, Choir “Nessun Dorma” (Turandot) (encore) Andrea Bocelli, Choir Bocelli’s performance was the latest in a rich tradition of memorable free concerts in Central Park which, over the years, has included such notable performers as Barbra Streisand, Simon and Garfunkel, Diana Ross, Garth Brooks, Bob Marley and the Wailers, and Bon Jovi.
#16 - The Little Mermaid from San Francisco Ballet
Season 39 - Episode 31 - Aired 12/15/2011
Experience Hans Christian Andersen's haunting tale of love in San Francisco Ballet's production of this inventive ballet. Hamburg Ballet's chief choreographer John Neumeier blends dance, dramatic storytelling and spectacle in a darkly emotional interpretation of the classic fable.
#17 - Miami City Ballet Dances Balanchine and Tharp
Season 39 - Episode 32 - Aired 10/28/2011
This program – a trio of signature works by the renowned choreographers — will showcase the company’s critically acclaimed performances of Balanchine’s “Square Dance” (music by Antonio Vivaldi and Arcangelo Corelli) and “Western Symphony” (music by Hershy Kay) and Tharp’s “The Golden Section” (music composed and performed by David Byrne). From their home base in Miami Beach (and utilizing four performing venues in South Florida), Miami City Ballet – under the leadership of Artistic Director Edward Villella, celebrated its 25th Anniversary Season in 2010-11. More than 88 ballets are featured in its repertory, works created by a roster of world-class choreographers including George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Frederick Ashton, Anthony Tudor and John Cranko as well as such 19th century classics as “Giselle,” “Coppelia” and “Don Quixote.”
#18 - The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater
Season 39 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/29/2012
#19 - Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall
Season 39 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/3/2012
#20 - Memphis
Season 39 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/24/2012
#21 - Tony Bennett: Duets II
Season 39 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/27/2012
#22 - Great Performances at the Met: Anna Bolena
Season 39 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/20/2012
#23 - Let Me Down Easy
Season 39 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/13/2012
#24 - Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin
Season 39 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/6/2012