Great Performances Season 46, Episode 20: Birgit Nilsson: A League of Her Own

1

GRAMMY Salute to Music Legends® 2018

Enjoy an all-star concert honoring Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Queen, film composer John Williams, New Orleans funk band The Meters and other recipients of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement, Trustee and Music Educator awards.

2

An American In Paris The Musical

Experience one of the most famous musicals of all time with a celebrated new adaptation featuring the original Tony Award-nominated stars Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope. The acclaimed production was directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon.

3

Sound of Music

Beloved by generations of audiences worldwide, “The Sound of Music” tells the inspiring true story of the von Trapp Family Singers and their escape from Austria during the rise of Nazism. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1959 hit stage musical garnered five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the blockbuster 1965 movie adaptation won five Oscars, including Best Picture. Great Performances presents the 2015 live U.K. broadcast version starring Kara Tointon as Maria, Julian Ovenden as Captain von Trapp, Katherine Kelley as Baroness Schraeder, Alexander Armstrong as Max, and Maria Friedman as the Mother Abbess. Cinematically photographed on adjoining sound stages, the production offers a more naturalistic interpretation of this great classic of the American musical theater. Among the many classic songs featured in the score are “The Sound of Music,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Climb Every Mountain,” “Edelweiss” and more.

4

John Leguizamo’s Road to Broadway

Go behind-the-scenes of John Leguizamo’s Tony-nominated one-man show, Latin History for Morons, a comic but pointed look at how Hispanic culture has been portrayed and repressed throughout American history.

5

Harold Prince: The Director’s Life

Take a peek into the legendary career of the pioneering Broadway producer and director and winner of 21 Tony Awards with this retrospective celebration featuring Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Mandy Patinkin, John Kander, Susan Stroman, and Angela Lansbury.

6

Tony Bennett & Diana Krall – Love Is Here to Stay

Join Tony Bennett and Diana Krall as they celebrate the American Songbook classics of George and Ira Gershwin, performing favorites from their Billboard #1 jazz album, “Love is Here to Stay,” such as “I Got Rhythm,” “Love is Here to Stay” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”

7

Michael Bublé: Tour Stop 148

Experience superstar singer Michael Bublé’s visually thrilling and musically triumphant ‘To Be Loved Tour’ featuring performances of his biggest hits including “Home” and “Haven’t Met You Yet” along with exclusive footage of Team Bublé travels.

8

k.d. lang – Landmarks Live in Concert

Celebrate the 25th anniversary Ingénue, the critically acclaimed and GRAMMY®-award winning album by superstar singer-songwriter k.d. lang with a one-night-only performance from the magnificent Majestic Theater in downtown San Antonio, Texas.

9

Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood

In honor of Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday, Tanglewood—the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra—dedicated its entire 2018 season to the iconic composer, conductor, performer, educator and humanitarian.

10

Great Performances at the Met: Aida

Watch Verdi’s grand opera featuring his most celebrated arias. Starring vocal powerhouses Anna Netrebko in the title role and Anita Rachvelishvili as Amneris as they go toe to toe in this love story set in ancient Egypt. Nicola Luisotti conducts.

11

From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2019

Great Performances continues the cherished tradition of ringing in the new year with the Vienna Philharmonic at the opulent Musikverein. Under the baton of guest conductor Christian Thielemann, the celebration features favorite Strauss Family waltzes and the dancing of the Vienna State Ballet. Downton Abbey’s Earl of Grantham, Hugh Bonneville, returns as host.

12

The Cleveland Orchestra Centennial Celebration

Celebrate the orchestra’s centennial with a gala concert conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, featuring pianist Lang Lang, and works by Mozart, Strauss, and Ravel, with vignettes of past music directors.

13

Orphée et Eurydice from Lyric Opera of Chicago

Experience Christoph Willibald Gluck’s enduringly popular French-language opera based on the famous Greek myth. From Lyric Opera of Chicago in collaboration with The Joffrey Ballet. Starring Dmitry Korchak, Andriana Chuchman and Lauren Snouffer.

14

Doubt from the Minnesota Opera

Watch an adaptation of John Patrick Shanley’s hit 2005 Broadway play and the 2008 film about suspicion leading to a battle of wills at a Bronx Catholic school. Starring Christine Brewer, Adriana Zabala, Matthew Worth and Denyce Graves.

15

Great Performances at the Met: Marnie

Watch composer Nico Muhly’s reimagining of Winston Graham’s novel about a beautiful, mysterious woman who assumes multiple identities. Starring Isabel Leonard in the title role alongside Christopher Maltman as Mark Rutland. Robert Spano conducts.

16

Movies for Grownups Awards with AARP The Magazine 2019

The AARP Movies for Grownups multimedia franchise was established in 2002 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.

17

Great Performances at the Met: La Fanciulla del West

Watch Puccini’s blazing love story set in the Wild West, based on David Belasco’s play “The Girl of the Golden West,” starring Eva-Maria Westbroek and Jonas Kaufmann. Marco Armiliato conducts.

18

Andrea Bocelli @ 60

Celebrate the world-renowned tenor with a concert spotlighting his popular music and opera repertoire including the duet “Fall on Me” performed with his son Matteo along with songs from his new album “Si.”

19

Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration

The songs of legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell’s are among the most sublime musical landscapes of human emotion ever created. Mitchell’s unique musical and lyrical gifts are an unprecedented marriage of intimacy and universality, creating a sound that is incomparable, yet relatable to all.

20

Birgit Nilsson: A League of Her Own

Celebrate the life of Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson, the face of opera in the late 1950s-70s. This new documentary showcases her greatest roles, including Elektra and The Ring Cycle, in rare footage, plus interviews with Plácido Domingo and more.

21

Great Performances at the Met: Samson et Dalila

Watch Saint-Saëns’s biblical epic based on the tale of Samson and Delilah from the Book of Judges. Starring tenor Roberto Alagna and mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča in the title roles. Sir Mark Elder conducts.

22

Julius Caesar from Donmar

Set in a women’s prison, Great Performances: Julius Caesar offers a powerful dramatization of the catastrophic consequences of a political leader’s extension of power beyond constitutional confines through an all-female lens.

23

Great Performances at the Met: La Traviata

See Michael Mayer’s richly textured production of Verdi’s classic opera, starring soprano Diana Damrau as the tragic heroine Violetta and Juan Diego Flórez as her hapless lover Alfredo. Met Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

24

Great Performances at the Met: Adriana Lecouvreur

Watch Cilea’s classic opera starring Anna Netrebko in the title role of the real-life French actress who dazzled 18th-century audiences with her on-and offstage passion, with Piotr Beczała as her lover, Maurizio.

25

Great Performances at the Met: Carmen

Watch Sir Richard Eyre’s production of Bizet’s masterpiece starring Clémentine Margaine reprising her role as opera’s ultimate seductress alongside Roberto Alagna as her impassioned lover Don José. Louis Langréeconducts.

26

Great Performances at the Met: La Fille du Régiment

Watch Donizetti’s romantic comedy about a budding military relationship starring Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena in a feast of bel canto vocal fireworks. Special guest Kathleen Turner makes her Met debut. Enrique Mazzola conducts.

27

Great Performances at the Met: Die Walküre

Experience a Wagnerian event for the ages starring Christine Goerke as the willful warrior Brünnhilde alongside Stuart Skelton, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Greer Grimsley. Philippe Jordan conducts.

29

Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2019

Enjoy the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic’s annual concert from Schönbrunn Palace with guest conductor Gustavo Dudamel and famed pianist Yuja Wang playing works including Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

30

Great Performances at the Met: Dialogues Des Carmélites

Watch John Dexter’s production of the Poulenc classic about the power of faith, starring Isabel Leonard as Blanche and Karita Mattila as the Prioress. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.