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Audra McDonald
Mezzo-soprano Audra McDonald is theater's youngest three-time Tony award
winner. She earned her third Tony for the Broadway production of Ragtime in
1998, having won previously for Nicholas Hytner's 1993 production of
Carousel and for her role as an aspiring opera singer in the Broadway
production of Terence McNally's Master Class in 1996. Ms. McDonald made her
Carnegie Hall debut on Opening Night of the 1998-99 season, singing
selections from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess with the San Francisco Symphony
under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. The concert, which was
televised internationally and recorded for BMG Classics, was repeated in
San Francisco and at Washington's Kennedy Center. This season she also
performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, New World
Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She appears with the Boston Pops
Orchestra, both Symphony Hall (a performance to be taped for PBS's "Evening
at Pops") and at Tanglewood. Other concert work this season includes
"Broadway's Leading Ladies" at Carnegie Hall, which will also be broadcast
on PBS to open the 1999 Great Performances series. She will also sing
"Myths and Hymns," a song cycle by Adam Guettel, at the Public Theater and
at the New York Festival of Song. Audra McDonald's debut solo recording,
Way Back to Paradise on Nonesuch Records, was named Adult Record of the
Year for 1998 by the New York Times. Featuring the work of five
composer-lyricists of her own generation, including Jason Robert Brown,
Jenny Giering, Ricky Ian Gordon, Adam Guettel, and Michael John LaChiusa,
the album also served as the basis for McDonald's acclaimed musical show at
the Public Theater. Other recordings include the upcoming release of
Bernstein's Wonderful Town on EMI, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle;
selections from Porgy and Bess on BMG, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas;
Leonard Bernstein's New York on Nonesuch, conducted by Eric Stern, and an
appearance on Dawn Upshaw Sings Rodgers and Hart on Nonesuch. On
television, Audra McDonald was introduced in a dramatic role this season in
the CBS production of "Having Our Say." She has also appeared as part of
the PBS productions "Leonard Bernstein's New York" and "Some Enchanted
Evening-A Salute to Oscar Hammerstein." Born into a musical family, Audra
McDonald grew up in Fresno, California. She attended the Juilliard School,
graduating in 1993.