Plot Synopsis

GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET presents classic operas performed by some of the world's greatest stars from the stage of NYC's Metropolitan Opera. Thirty years after its first GREAT PERFORMANCES broadcast in 1977, the Met was first featured in its own series, GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET, as PBS broadcast a production of "The Magic Flute," with Matthew Polenzani as Tamino, Nathan Gunn as Papageno, and Ying Huang as Pamina. PBS broadcast the eighth season premiere on Friday, January 17, 2014 from 9pm-Midnight ET/PT (check local listings), with a performance of Eugene Onegin, a new production of Tchaikovsky's most popular opera, starring Anna Netrebko.

GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET returned for its ninth season on Friday, January 16, 2015 at 9pm on PBS (check local listings), with a performance of "Le Nozze di Figaro" conducted by Met music director James Levine and directed by Richard Eyre, who sets the action of this classic domestic comedy in an 18th-century manor house in Seville during the 1930s. Dashing bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov leads the cast in the title role of the clever servant, opposite Marlis Petersen as his bride, Susanna, Peter Mattei as the philandering count they work for, Amanda Majeski as the long-suffering countess and Isabel Leonard as the libidinous pageboy, Cherubino.

The tenth season of GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET premiered on Friday, January 22, 2016 at 9pm (check local listings). The series opener, "Il Trovatore," stars Anna Netrebko in her Met role debut as Leonora. Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings Count di Luna, with Yonghoon Lee as Manrico, the title character, Stefan Kocan as Ferrando and Dolora Zajick as the gypsy Azucena.
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GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET returns for its 16th season in 2022 with 10 new operas premiering on PBS, featuring "Fire Shut Up in My Bones" (April 1), the historic production that marked the Met's first performance of an opera by a Black composer, Grammy winner Terence Blanchard; and "Rigoletto" (June 17), directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher. Presentations kick off with Stephen Wadsworth's production of Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" (February 6) followed by Matthew Aucoin's new adaptation of "Eurydice" (March 6). After "Fire Shut Up in My Bones" will be Laurent Pelly's staging of Massenet's "Cendrillon" (Cinderella, May 8), with an all-new English translation. Among the broadcast hosts will be Angel Blue, Renee Fleming, Anthony Roth Costanzo, and Audra McDonald.

On Friday, April 1, 2022, PBS premieres "Fire Shut Up in My Bones," marking The Metropolitan Opera's return for their 2021-22 season following the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. Grammy Award-winning jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard's adaptation of Charles M. Blow's memoir tells a powerful and profound story about a young man's journey to overcome a life of trauma and hardship. The Met's first production of a new opera by a Black composer featuring a libretto by filmmaker Kasi Lemmons. "Fire Shut Up in My Bones" is co-directed by James Robinson and Camille A. Brown, with Brown also choreographing, becoming the first Black director to create a mainstage Met production.