Land of Gold -
great performances

Land of Gold explores the making of John Adams and Peter Sellars' San Francisco Opera premiere of their latest collaboration, Girls of the Golden West, dramatizing the turbulent history of the California Gold Rush. With the new opera's title referencing Giacomo Puccini's 1910 romantic favorite The Girl of the Golden West, Adams and Sellars' work tells a harsher and more accurate story through the letters of writer Louise Clappe, who lived in a miners' settlement for a year and a half. Land of Gold takes viewers into parallel universes 170 years apart with the historical characters of 1851 on a cultural collision course, and then behind the scenes at San Francisco Opera with the cast and creatives excavating that same history within today's cultural turmoil. Amid the backstage hubbub, composer Adams, singers Julia Bullock, Paul Appleby, J'Nai Bridges, and director Sellars wrestle their bittersweet opera onto the stage. Marking filmmaker Jon Else's third documentary with Adams, Land of Gold lays bare the flamboyant but brutal roots of modern America.

Duration: 1 hour 26 minutes and 46 seconds

Episode Number: 4817

No future air times were found for this episode.

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GREAT PERFORMANCES, the longest-running performing arts anthology on television, continues to feature the best in the performing arts.

Watch Great Performances - Clips, Episodes & Previews

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Future Broadcast times for "Great Performances": (show all)

Fri, Nov 7	9:00 P.M.	Tiler Peck: Suspending Time NHPBS (11.1)
Fri, Nov 7	10:00 P.M.	New York City Ballet In Madrid NHPBS (11.1)
Sat, Nov 8	1:30 A.M.	Tiler Peck: Suspending Time NHPBS (11.1)
Sat, Nov 8	2:30 A.M.	New York City Ballet In Madrid NHPBS (11.1)
Mon, Nov 10	3:00 A.M.	Tiler Peck: Suspending Time NHPBS (11.1)
Mon, Nov 10	1:30 P.M.	Tiler Peck: Suspending Time NH Explore (11.2)
Mon, Nov 10	2:30 P.M.	New York City Ballet In Madrid NH Explore (11.2)
Fri, Nov 14	9:00 P.M.	Twelfth Night NHPBS (11.1)
Sat, Nov 15	1:00 A.M.	Twelfth Night NHPBS (11.1)
Mon, Nov 17	12:00 P.M.	Twelfth Night NH Explore (11.2)
Mon, Nov 24	2:00 P.M.	George Jones: Still Playin' Possum NH Explore (11.2)
Sun, Nov 30	3:00 P.M.	Andrea Bocelli 30th - The Celebration NH Explore (11.2)
Mon, Dec 15	11:00 A.M.	Henry Mancini 100 at the Hollywood Bowl NH Explore (11.2)
Mon, Dec 15	1:00 P.M.	Kiss Me, Kate NH Explore (11.2)
Tue, Dec 16	9:00 P.M.	Nutcracker from English National Ballet NHPBS (11.1)
Wed, Dec 17	1:30 A.M.	Nutcracker from English National Ballet NHPBS (11.1)