Audra McDonald From Broadway To Aspen

July 20th, 2010 at 06:07pm Aspen Music Festival 355

BROADWAY STAR AUDRA MCDONALD MAKES HER ASPEN DEBUT THIS SATURDAY

Aspen Music Festival and School Season Benefit features an evening of much-loved songs and an elegant dinner on the illuminated Benedict Music Tent stage

ASPEN, Colo.—Broadway and television star Audra McDonald makes her highly-anticipated Aspen Music Festival and School debut this Saturday evening, July 24, at 6 p.m. in Harris Concert Hall, as a part of this year’s season benefit. The four-time Tony  Award and two-time Grammy Award winner will present an evening of show tunes, standards and original songs written especially for her, followed by―for the first time ever―an elegant dinner with McDonald on the stage of the Benedict Music Tent.

The concert will be an opportunity to see up-close this dynamic Broadway legend at the peak of her career. McDonald is known for her spectacular nuance and emotional power in songs by Broadway greats such as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, and Stephen Sondheim. Her shows sell out all over the world.

McDonald currently stars in the medical drama Private Practice, a spin-off of the popular Grey’s Anatomy TV series. Aside from being a skilled actress, she’s also a classically-trained soprano, having completed her undergraduate studies at the Juilliard School. From school she went to Broadway, where she won Tony Awards for her performances in Carousel, Master Class, A Raisin in the Sun and Ragtime.

The singer has performed concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony and many others. In 2006, she made her opera debut with Houston Grand Opera, performing the Francis Poulenc monodrama La Voix Humaine. She followed up that critically-acclaimed performance with a Los Angeles Opera engagement in 2007.

McDonald’s ability to go from screen to stage to opera hall is what made her an ideal choice for the 2010 season benefit, according to AMFS vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor Asadour Santourian. “Audra bridges those worlds so comfortably. And to have someone so deliciously contrasting to what we do, and yet of our world, really spices up the summer.”

Artist Sponsor and Honorary Chair for Saturday’s benefit is Toby Devan Lewis and Honorary Chair is Gael Neeson.

Entry Filed under: Classical Music, Aspen, Aspen Music Festival