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VIDEO: Watch An All New Trailer for GREAT PERFORMANCES: THE OPERA HOUSE Premiering May 25

Great Performances: The Opera House, the new documentary by multiple Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Susan Froemke (Grey Gardens; Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton) surveys a remarkable period of the Metropolitan Opera's rich history and a time of great change for New York City. Drawing on rarely seen archival footage, stills and recent interviews, the film chronicles the creation of the Met's storied Lincoln Center home of the last 50 years, set against a backdrop of the artists, architects and politicians who shaped the cultural life of New York City in the 1950s and 60s. Amongst the notable figures featured in the film are famed soprano Leontyne Price, who opened the Met's present Opera House in 1966 with a starring role in Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra; Rudolf Bing, the Met's imperious general manager who engineered the move from the old house to the new one; Robert Moses, the unstoppable city planner who bulldozed an entire neighborhood to make room for Lincoln Center; and Wallace Harrison, whose quest for architectural GLORY was never fully realized.

The Opera House Premieres Friday, May 25 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

Runtime: 120 minutes

Notable Talent:

Leontyne Price, American soprano

Rudolf Bing, Austrian-born opera impresario

Robert Moses, former New York public official

Wallace K. Harrison, American architect

Samuel Barber, American composer (Antony and Cleopatra, 1966)

Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director and producer of operas

Susan Froemke, multiple Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker (Grey Gardens; Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton)

Peter Gelb, General Manager, The Metropolitan Opera

David Horn, GREAT PERFORMANCES executive producer

Great Performances: The Opera House is directed and produced by Susan Froemke. Peter R. Livingston Jr. is editor and co-director. Peter Gelb is producer. For Great Performances, Bill O'Donnell is series producer and David Horn is executive producer.

Watch the trailer below!






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