Four San Francisco Opera performances, which were recorded in high definition at the War Memorial Opera House, will air on KQED tonight and every Thursday through September 23, along with additional airings each week.

Academy Award Winner Rita Moreno, most recently notable in Oz and Law and Order, will host the series, and each episode will feature backstage interviews with singers, conductors, directors, and other members of the artistic and creative team.

Tonight's opera will feature American soprano Patricia Racette in Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, followed by Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni and soprano Angela Gheorghiu in an Art Deco production of Puccini’s La Rondine. The series concludes with the sweeping biblical epic Samson and Dalilah by Camille Saint-Saëns with a large-scale production starring Olga Borodina and Clifton Forbis.

See the full schedule at KQED and check out video clips of the performances.