Audra McDonald launches her extensive 2014–15 concert season with a performance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles tonight. The season includes shows in more than 30 cities in 18 different states across the United States, among them five cities in California and five in Florida; three each in New Jersey and upstate New York; dates in Indianapolis, Charlotte, Boston, Chapel Hill, and Tucson; and a return to Carnegie Hall in New York City. The season also features a number of orchestra performances, including the Rochester Philharmonic, Naples Philharmonic, Des Moines Symphony, and Jacksonville Symphony, conducted by her musical director, Andy Einhorn. See below for the currently announced dates; for additional details, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
Earlier this year, McDonald won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her unforgettable performance as Billie Holiday in the musical play Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. This marks a historic sixth Tony Award win for McDonald, the most ever won by a performer, and Lady Day is Audra McDonald’s eleventh turn in a Broadway production. Her record-breaking sixth Tony Award follows the 2012 Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical for The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and earlier Featured roles in Carousel (1994), Master Class (1996), Ragtime (1998), and A Raisin in the Sun (2004).
Audra McDonald released her latest solo album on Nonesuch Records last year with Go Back Home, her first album in seven years. The album features songs by composers with whom she has long been associated (Adam Guettel, Michael John LaChiusa, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim) and some, like the Kander & Ebb title track, relatively new to her repertoire; in addition, McDonald continues to champion works by an emerging generation of composers. “As usual,” says the Los Angeles Times, “she stuns upon entrance, exit and everything else.” New York magazine raves: “It’s entirely possible that Audra McDonald is the greatest singer alive.” USA Today says: “McDonald has one of the warmest, most glorious singing voices on the planet.”
Go Back Home is her fifth solo album for Nonesuch Records, following Way Back to Paradise (1998), How Glory Goes (2000), Happy Songs (2002), and Build a Bridge (2006). To peruse Audra McDonald’s Nonesuch discography, click here.
AUDRA McDONALD ON TOUR
