Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Watch more: to.pbs.org/greatperformances| #greatperformancespbs
Sergei Rachmaninoff was a Russian aristocrat who lost everything in the Bolshevik revolution: his home, his family fortune, even his musical inspiration. Fleeing Russia with his wife and daughters, he landed in New York and reinvented himself as modern American artist. Host Scott Yoo explores Rachmaninoff’s American journey and the new technology that made it possible with Russian pianist Anna Polonsky and Ukrainian-American photographer Sonia Goydenko. He listens to, and recreates, some of Rachmaninoff’s original piano rolls and recordings and visits his ‘paradise in exile,’ the villa Rachmaninoff later built on Lake Lucerne to remind him of his childhood home, with Russian pianist Yevgeny Sudbin and his daughter Bella.
Places visited: Lake Lucerne, Switzerland; New York, Brooklyn, New York; New Jersey
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This program is made possible by viewers like you. Please support your local PBS station: pbs.org/donate
Watch full episodes and more: pbs.org/greatperformances
Instagram: instagram.com/pbsgreatperformances
Facebook: facebook.com/greatperformances
Newsletter: pbs.org/wnet/gperf/newsletter
#GreatPerformancesPBS
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The only continuing primetime performance showcase on American television, Great Performances presents a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries. With its programs garnering 67 Emmy Awards and six George Foster Peabody Awards, the series has received every major television honor.
Regardless of geographic or economic limitations, Great Performances ensures its audiences “the best seats in the house” with a roster of artists and performing arts companies that represent a “Who’s Who” of excellence and virtuosity in the international performing arts.
Watch more: to.pbs.org/greatperformances| #greatperformancespbs
Sergei Rachmaninoff was a Russian aristocrat who lost everything in the Bolshevik revolution: his home, his family fortune, even his musical inspiration. Fleeing Russia with his wife and daughters, he landed in New York and reinvented himself as modern American artist. Host Scott Yoo explores Rachmaninoff’s American journey and the new technology that made it possible with Russian pianist Anna Polonsky and Ukrainian-American photographer Sonia Goydenko. He listens to, and recreates, some of Rachmaninoff’s original piano rolls and recordings and visits his ‘paradise in exile,’ the villa Rachmaninoff later built on Lake Lucerne to remind him of his childhood home, with Russian pianist Yevgeny Sudbin and his daughter Bella.
Places visited: Lake Lucerne, Switzerland; New York, Brooklyn, New York; New Jersey
Please like & subscribe now if you enjoyed: youtube.com/channel/UCZri-Y6aBcTFrxYMF_ghXQA
This program is made possible by viewers like you. Please support your local PBS station: pbs.org/donate
Watch full episodes and more: pbs.org/greatperformances
Instagram: instagram.com/pbsgreatperformances
Facebook: facebook.com/greatperformances
Newsletter: pbs.org/wnet/gperf/newsletter
#GreatPerformancesPBS
-----------------
The only continuing primetime performance showcase on American television, Great Performances presents a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries. With its programs garnering 67 Emmy Awards and six George Foster Peabody Awards, the series has received every major television honor.
Regardless of geographic or economic limitations, Great Performances ensures its audiences “the best seats in the house” with a roster of artists and performing arts companies that represent a “Who’s Who” of excellence and virtuosity in the international performing arts.
