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Private Notes
An American favorite for his award-winning role in the hit TV series House, the versatile British actor Hugh Laurie showcases his musical side in an atmospheric personal odyssey filmed on location in New Orleans.
Beloved tenor Andrea Bocelli performs a free concert on Central Park's Great Lawn, with the New York Philharmonic conducted by its music director Alan Gilbert. Joining Bocelli on stage on this memorable night are Celine Dion, Tony Bennett, Chris Botti and David Foster.
John Neumeier -- director and chief choreographer for Hamburg Ballet -- blends dance, dramatic storytelling and spectacle into a unique interpretation of a classic Hans Christian Andersen’s tale. With choreography, sets, costumes, and lighting, all by Neumeier, this ballet—as much theater as it is dance—takes the dancers into deep emotional terrain.
Verdi’s Il Trovatore, starring four of the world’s most celebrated interpreters of the leading roles and conducted by Marco Armiliato, was originally seen live in movie theaters on April 30, 2011 as part of the groundbreaking series, The Met: Live in HD, which transmits live performances to more than 1500 movie theaters and performing arts centers in 46 countries around the world. The cast earned excellent reviews for their performances as the heroic troubadour of the title, Marcelo Álvarez is “exciting, conveying Manrico’s urgency and desperation”; in the role of Leonora, Sondra Radvanovsky is “remarkable…a spirited, feisty heroine”; Dolora Zajick is “a force of nature” as Azucena, the gypsy with a dark secret; and Dmitri Hvorostovsky‘s “vivid presence and rich baritone emphasize Count di Luna’s swings between hell-bent vengeance and romantic obsession”.
Anna Deavere Smith's latest production, Let Me Down Easy. The Great Performances production was recorded in February 2011 in the Kreeger Theater at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, DC, launching a national tour that concluded in September.
The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, starring soprano Anna Netrebko in her highly anticipated first North American performances of the tour-de-force title role, will be the 2012 season opener of Great Performances at the Met.
Tony Bennett: Duets II features the singer's greatest hits, performed by Bennett and today's biggest stars, including John Mayer, Michael Buble, k.d. lang, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Queen Latifah, Norah Jones, Josh Groban, Faith Hill, Alejandro Sanz, Carrie Underwood and more.
Broadway's smash hit musical Memphis, winner of four Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book and Best Orchestrations, comes to Great Performances. Memphis is the first Best Musical Tony Award winner to air on U.S. national television with its original principals while continuing a successful Broadway run and national tour.
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 Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater, a celebration of Yiddish theater pioneers Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky by their grandson, Michael Tilson Thomas, Artistic Director of the New World Symphony.
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall, a fully-staged, lavish 25th anniversary mounting of Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running Broadway and West End extravaganza. Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess star in a spectacular presentation from the ornate London concert venue with a host of special guest stars at the conclusion.
Philip Glass's inspirational opera Satyagraha (Sanskrit for "truth force"), in the first revival of Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch's innovative 2008 production.
San Francisco Symphony's Centennial Season opening night gala, conducted by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. The two-hour broadcast is hosted by author Amy Tan and features Tilson Thomas conducting the Orchestra and two of the leading artists of our time: legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman and the dynamic pianist Lang Lang.
Renee Fleming reprises one of her most popular interpretations: the title role in Handel's Rodelinda, under the baton of Baroque specialist Harry Bicket in the revival of Stephen Wadsworth's acclaimed production.
Three of the opera world’s leading stars—Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, and René Pape—sing the principal roles in a new production of Gounod’s Faust, directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff in his Met debut. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met performances of the opera.
The Enchanted Island is a world premiere work that combines Baroque music with a new, English-language libretto featuring characters from Shakespeare, and a starry cast including Danielle de Niese, Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, Plácido Domingo, and Luca Pisaroni.
Angela Meade, Marcello Giodani, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Ferruccio Furlanetto star in Verdi’s Ernani.
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.
The concert features the BSO, Boston Pops Orchestra and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, under the direction of conductors John Williams, Keith Lockhart and Andris Nelsons. Performances by pianists Emanuel Ax and Peter Serkin, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and vocalist James Taylor.
THIRTEEN’s Great Performances will present 12-year-old classical crossover prodigy Jackie Evancho’s second television special Jackie Evancho: Music of the Movies.
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.
Under the baton of the dynamic and electric guest maestro, Gustavo Dudamel, the Vienna Philharmonic performs the finale of Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” from the opera “La Gioconda.”
Robert Lepage’s acclaimed new production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.
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.
Natalie Dessay stars in Willy Decker's production of Verdi's opera ''La Traviata.''
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.
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.
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.”
