How many seasons does Great Performances have?

Great Performances has 53 seasons and 713 episodes.

Is Great Performances renewed or canceled?

Great Performances is currently returning. A premiere date has not been announced yet.

Where can I watch Great Performances?

Great Performances is available on PBS. You can stream it on PBS, Thirteen, WETA+.

Great Performances

Name: Great Performances
Genre: Comedy, Documentary, Drama
Released: 1971-01-28
Rating: 6.1
Cast: Bray Poor

RETURNING53 Seasons713 Episodes★ 6.1

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NetworkPBS

First AiredJan 28, 1971

Last AiredJul 12, 2026

GenreComedy, Documentary, Drama

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 theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

RENEWED

Great Performances has been renewed but a premiere date has not been announced yet. Track this show to get an alert when a date is confirmed.

WHERE TO WATCH

PBS

Thirteen

WETA+

Some links may earn us a commission. Data via JustWatch / TMDB

Cast

Bray Poor

Narrator (voice)

Seasons & Episodes52 seasons · 713 episodes

0% complete

E1The Magic of Grace Bumbry

Oct 3, 202554m

Discover Grace Bumbry’s inspiring rise to global opera fame. Spotlighting her historic performances, the film explores the racial barriers she overcame to triumph in her 1966 performance as "Carmen."

E2Great Performances at the Met: Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Oct 19, 2025163m

Rossini’s effervescent comedy retakes the stage in Bartlett Sher’s madcap production. Aigul Akhmetshina headlines a winning ensemble as the feisty heroine, Rosina, alongside Jack Swanson, in his Met debut, as her secret beloved, Count Almaviva. Andrey Zhilikhovsky stars as Figaro, the infamous barber of Seville, with Peter Kálmán as Dr. Bartolo and Alexander Vinogradov as Don Basilio.

E3Tiler Peck: Suspending Time

Nov 7, 202555m

Follow acclaimed ballerina Tiler Peck as she overcomes injury to reclaim her place on stage and debut her own choreography with New York City Ballet, revealing the resilience and artistry behind a modern-day prima ballerina.

E4Twelfth Night

Nov 14, 2025113m

The Shakespearean comedy of mistaken identity tells the romantic misadventures of twins Sebastian and Viola after they survive a shipwreck, including revenge plots and tricks of love. Recorded this summer at the newly renovated Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the production is directed by Tony Award nominee Saheem Ali.

E5Nutcracker from English National Ballet

Dec 16, 202583m

Experience the holiday classic in a new light, featuring over 100 dancers and musicians performing at the London Coliseum.

E6From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2026

Jan 1, 2026126m

The famed Vienna Philharmonic rings in the New Year with its annual concert from Vienna's Musikverein conducted for the first time by Yannick Nézet-Séguin with performances by the Vienna State Ballet and location segments hosted by Hugh Bonneville.

E7Movies for Grownups® Awards 2026 with AARP The Magazine

Feb 22, 2026105m

Iconic and beloved screen and stage performer Alan Cumming returns as host for this awards show in which Adam Sandler receives the Career Achievement Award.

E8Samara Joy at Royal Albert Hall

Feb 27, 202655m

A number one album and a double Grammy-win in 2023 put jazz vocalist Samara Joy on the map, officially establishing the Bronx native as the next jazz sensation and a legend in the making, with frequent comparisons to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. Fresh from another double win at the 2025 Grammys, Joy makes her much-anticipated debut at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall.

E9Great Performances at the Met: La Bohème

Mar 20, 2026143m

Experience Zeffirelli’s beloved production set in 19th-century Paris telling the story of Puccini’s young artists and lovers that share joy, passion, and heartbreak featuring Juliana Grigoryan as Mimì and Freddie De Tommaso as Rodolfo.

E10Great Performances at the Met: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Apr 1, 2026169m

In this new adaptation of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel set shortly before the outbreak of World War II, two Jewish cousins invent an anti-fascist superhero and launch their own comic-book series, hoping to recruit America into the fight against Nazism.

E11Now Hear This – “Brahms: Free But Alone”

Apr 10, 202654m

Johannes Brahms was a quiet, private person, but he lived a full life, bearing a responsibility he didn’t want, a woman he couldn’t be with, and a legacy he couldn’t live up to. Scott Yoo journeys across Germany with pianist Elisabeth Brauss and cellists Johannes Moser and Max Hornung to find a window into Brahms’ inner life.

E12Great Performances at the Met: La Sonnambula

Apr 12, 2026165m

Nadine Sierra stars as Amina in Bellini’s tale of love lost and found. This new production by Rolando Villazón—the tenor who has embarked on a second career as a director—retains the opera’s original setting in the Swiss Alps but uses its plot to explore the emotional and psychological valleys of the mind.

E13Now Hear This – “Everyone Loves Joplin”

Apr 17, 202654m

Scott Joplin was the king of ragtime, a new kind music for the turn of the 20th century. Rick Benjamin’s Paragon Ragtime Orchestra takes Scott Yoo back in time to experience the music, movies and style of that era.

E15Now Hear This – “The Call of Istanbul”

Apr 24, 202654m

Istanbul sits at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, a melting pot of diverse peoples, languages and ideas. With star Turkish pianist Fazil Say, conductor Çem Mansur, and a host of Anatolian folk and Turkish jazz musicians, Scott Yoo and his wife, flutist Alice Dade, explore the city.

E16Now Hear This – “The Iceland Sound”

May 1, 202654m

Fewer people live in Iceland than in Wichita, Kansas, yet it produces some of the best musicians in the world. To find out how, Scott Yoo crosses this sunlit, rainy, volcanic land of extremes to meet composers Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Daniel Bjarnason, popular musician JFDR, instrument makers, music historians, and one of Iceland’s most famous chefs.

E17Josh Groban: An Intimate Evening at The Union Chapel

May 8, 202677m

Josh Groban returns to PBS in a special, personal concert staged in the intimate and historic setting of London’s Union Chapel. Recorded in October 2025, the concert captures the acclaimed vocalist showcasing his most beloved songs alongside new material, all reimagined within the chapel’s acoustics. Between songs, Groban speaks about what makes these songs personal to him.

E18Suffs

May 8, 2026135m

Created by Tony Award winner Shaina Taub, this musical recorded from Broadway tells the story of the American suffragist movement and the remarkable friendships, heartbreak, and action that brought women together—or, in some cases, tore them apart.

E19Irving Berlin’s Top Hat

May 15, 2026131m

Inspired by the iconic 1935 movie musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, this acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre revival recorded from the West End in January 2026 is directed and choreographed by three-time Tony winner Kathleen Marshall.

E20Great Performances at the Met: Arabella

May 17, 2026163m

Strauss’ romance brings the glamour of 19th-century Vienna to the Met stage in a production by legendary Otto Schenk. Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen makes her role debut as Arabella, a young noblewoman in search of love on her own terms. Soprano Louise Alder makes her Met debut as her sister, Zdenka, and bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny is the count who sweeps Arabella off her feet.

E21An Evening with Nicole Scherzinger

May 22, 202684m

Recorded in October 2025, Nicole Scherzinger performs at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the first time in her first major UK solo show in 13 years. Accompanied by a full orchestra, Scherzinger sings a mix of beloved Broadway standards and pop hits from her career as lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls.

E22Great Performances at the Met: Andrea Chénier

Jun 14, 2026143m

Giordano’s tragedy stars tenor Piotr Beczała as the virtuous poet who falls victim to the intrigue and violence of the French Revolution. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva stars as Chénier’s aristocratic lover, Maddalena di Coigny, with baritone Igor Golovatenko as Carlo Gérard. Daniele Rustioni takes the podium to lead Nicolas Joël’s staging.

E23Great Performances at the Met: I Puritani

Jul 12, 2026176m

Charles Edwards makes his company directorial debut after many successes as a set designer, while soprano Lisette Oropesa and tenor Lawrence Brownlee star as Elvira and Arturo, brought together by love and torn apart by the political rifts of the English Civil War. Marco Armiliato conducts with baritone Artur Ruciński.

E24Great Performances at the Met: Eugene Onegin

Aug 21, 2026

Soprano Asmik Grigorian returns to the Met as Tatiana, the lovestruck young heroine in Tchaikovsky’s opera adaptation of Pushkin’s novel. Baritone Igor Golovatenko reprises his portrayal of Onegin, who realizes his affection for her all too late. Tony Award winner Deborah Warner directs.

E25Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2026

Aug 28, 2026

Enjoy the famed orchestra's beloved annual concert conducted by Lorenzo Viotti featuring bass-baritone Bryn Terfel as guest soloist performing arias from Verdi’s "Falstaff" as well as Tevye’s song from "Fiddler on the Roof."

About Great Performances

Great Performances is a comedy, documentary, drama series on PBS. The show first aired on Jan 28, 1971 and currently has 53 seasons and 713 episodes. Great Performances has been renewed and is returning for more episodes. It has a rating of 6.1/10 based on 25 votes. The cast includes Bray Poor.