MUL 1010: Music Appreciation / Music in the Humanities: Watch - Concerts

Great Performances brings the best in the performing arts from across America and around the world to a US television audience. It presents a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

Pierre Boulez conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in Bela Bartok's Concert for Orchestra, performed in the Hieronymus Monastery in Lisbon.

Enjoy an All-Mozart programme at the Konzerthaus Berlin. Conducted by Hartmut Haenchen, a reduced ensemble of the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra brings to life the music’s manifold characteristics through the translucency of the part-writing. Whether light-heartedness, song-like lyricism, drama or inspired polyphonic writing, everything breathes the spirit of Mozart.

In September 1998 the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden performed a gala concert to celebrate its 450th anniversary. The programme includes pieces that were first performed by this orchestra.

Kurt Masur directs the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig in Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor op.64 with soloist Frank-Michael Erben.

This is a performance of the Messiah in the original scoring, performed as Handel intended it, with much smaller resources than we have become accustomed to and, therefore, a perfect balance between a small chorus and orchestra.

Enjoy this acclaimed concert recorded in Tokyo's Suntory Hall in 1994. The programme includes: Modest Mussorgsky - A Night on the Bare Mountain (original version), Igor Stravinsky - Firebird Suite (1919 version) and Peter Ilyitch - Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E minor.

Music and concerts from the Library of Congress

With his mastery of jazz, classical, and Latin music, Arturo Sandoval is a rare virtuoso who soars on the trumpet. From piano compositions to lyrical ballad improvisations, Sandoval's diverse and broad range of work marks him as one of the most celebrated and prolific musicians of our time. This live 1992 performance at the Brewhouse Theatre in England shows Sandoval at his best.

In this 1986 film, Garry Keys captures trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and his band live in Redondo Beach, California. Dizzy is in great form as he leads his ace band through classics from various parts of his career. Filmed in Gary Keys's signature style, with lots of close-ups of the players, the video records all of the impish comedy and good times of the elder statesman of jazz.

A new generation of players and samplers now gathers at Roy Ayers' corner of the rainbow. Ever since forming the Roy Ayers Ubiquity in 1970, this vibraphone maestro has mesmerized millions with his unique style of music known as smooth jazz. His songs have been sampled by artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubian, X-Clan, Big Daddy Kane, Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, The Notorious B.I.G., Foxy Brown, and Sean "Puffy" Combs. As captured in this live 1992 performance, Ayers' signature blend of smooth vibes, mother-wit lyrics, and classic bottom, along with dashes of saxophones, keyboards, and wordly percussion, is a reflection of his eclectic brilliance.

As one of the best-known and classic Philly soul groups, The Stylistics formed in 1968 with lead Russell Tompkins Jr., Herb Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith, and James Dunn. During the early 1970s, the group had 12 consecutive Top 10 hits, including “Stop, Look, Listen (to Your Heart),” “People Make the World Go Round,” “You are Everything,” “Bethcha by Golly, Wow,” “I’m Stone in Love with You,” “Break Up to Make Up,” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New.” This 2005 concert was recorded live in Norfolk, Virginia.

Tower of Power has been issuing albums and touring the world since the early 1970s when their album Bump City lit the fuse to a string of classic hit releases, including “What Is Hip?,” “Back to Oakland,” “Urban Renewal,” “In the Slot,” “Ain't Nothin’ Stoppin’ Us Now,” and “Live and in Living Color.” This 1987 live concert at Iowa State University highlights the music that has had the band in demand as backup artists to Elton John, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis, Little Feat, David Sanborn, Michelle Shocked, Paula Abdul, Aaron Neville, Aerosmith, Michael Bolton, Billy Preston, Public Image Ltd (PiL), Rod Stewart, and Toto. Tower of Power's horn-driven sound is not to be missed.