8.3/1019 votes#1 - Yannick – An Artist’s Journey
Season 49 Episode 1 - Aired 9/3/2021
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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8.4/1016 votes#2 - Verdi’s Requiem: The Met Remembers 9/11
Season 49 Episode 2 - Aired 9/11/2021
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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7.0/1023 votes#3 - The Red Shoes
Season 49 Episode 3 - Aired 9/17/2021
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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7.1/1024 votes#4 - Great Performances at the Met: Sondra Radvanovsky & Piotr Beczala in Concert
Season 49 Episode 4 - Aired 10/1/2021
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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7.2/1016 votes#5 - Great Performances at the Met: Three Divas at Versailles
Season 49 Episode 5 - Aired 10/8/2021
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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5.5/1015 votes#6 - Now Hear This "Beethoven's Ghost"
Season 49 Episode 6 - Aired 10/29/2021
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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6.4/1012 votes#7 - Great Performances at the Met: Wagnerians in Concert
Season 49 Episode 7 - Aired 11/5/2021
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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7.8/1012 votes#8 - A John Williams Premiere at Tanglewood
Season 49 Episode 8 - Aired 11/12/2021
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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7.4/1023 votes#9 - San Francisco Symphony Reopening Night
Season 49 Episode 9 - Aired 11/19/2021
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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6.3/109 votes#10 - Coppelia
Season 49 Episode 10 - Aired 11/26/2021
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.
Director: N/A
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7.0/107 votes#11 - Unforgettable With Love - Natalie Cole
Season 49 Episode 12 - Aired 11/27/2021
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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8.3/108 votes#12 - Great Performances at the Met: Bryn Terfel & Friends in Concert
Season 49 Episode 13 - Aired 12/3/2021
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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NaN/100 votes#13 - Great Performances at the Met: New Year's Eve Gala
Season 49 Episode 14 - Aired 12/31/2021
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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8.8/1013 votes#14 - From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2022
Season 49 Episode 15 - Aired 1/1/2022
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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NaN/100 votes#15 - Reopening: The Broadway Revival
Season 49 Episode 16 - Aired 1/18/2022
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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NaN/100 votes#16 - Great Performances at the Met: Boris Godunov
Season 49 Episode 17 - Aired 2/6/2022
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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NaN/100 votes#17 - Great Performances at the Met: Eurydice
Season 49 Episode 18 - Aired 3/6/2022
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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NaN/100 votes#18 - Movies for Grownups® Awards 2022 with AARP The Magazine
Season 49 Episode 19 - Aired 3/18/2022
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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NaN/100 votes#19 - The Conductor
Season 49 Episode 20 - Aired 3/25/2022
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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NaN/100 votes#20 - Great Performances at the Met: Fire Shut Up In My Bones
Season 49 Episode 21 - Aired 4/1/2022
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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NaN/100 votes#21 - Now Hear This "Amy Beach - American Romantic"
Season 49 Episode 22 - Aired 4/8/2022
Host Scott Yoo and his wife, flutist Alice Dade, perform the work of Romantic era classical composer Amy Beach at Festival Mosaic and uncover Beach’s many musical influences. Featuring performances of Beach’s works, the duo visits places Beach took inspiration from throughout her life, including an artist residency at MacDowell in New Hampshire.
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NaN/100 votes#22 - Now Hear This "Florence Price and the American Migration"
Season 49 Episode 23 - Aired 4/15/2022
From Little Rock to Chicago, host Scott Yoo follows the trail of the great African American composer Florence Price.
Director: N/A
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7.6/108 votes#23 - Now Hear This "Aaron Copland - Dean of American Music"
Season 49 Episode 24 - Aired 4/22/2022
Scott Yoo explores the life and work of Aaron Copland, and how he created the American sound.
Director: N/A
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6.6/105 votes#24 - Now Hear This "New American Voices"
Season 49 Episode 25 - Aired 4/29/2022
Scott Yoo discovers how American composers are inspired by their immigrant roots today through two composers: Brazilian-born Sergio Assad and Indian American Reena Esmail.
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NaN/100 votes#25 - Great Performances at the Met: Cinderella
Season 49 Episode 26 - Aired 5/8/2022
Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard stars as the rags-to-riches princess in Laurent Pelly’s storybook staging of Massenet’s “Cendrillon.” Featuring an all-new English translation by Kelley Rourke and conducted by Maestro Emmanuel Villaume, the cast also includes mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo as Cinderella’s Prince Charming, soprano Jessica Pratt as her Fairy Godmother, and more.
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The Best Episodes of Great Performances Season 49
Every episode of Great Performances Season 49 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Great Performances Season 49!
The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical...
Genres:ComedyDocumentaryDrama
Network:PBS
Season 49 Ratings Summary
"Yannick – An Artist’s Journey" is the best rated episode of "Great Performances" season 49. It scored 8.3/10 based on 19 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 9/3/2021. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Verdi’s Requiem: The Met Remembers 9/11".