Lyric Opera 2023-2024 Issue 2 - Audra McDonald/Gala

11 | Lyric Opera of Chicago Artist pro les AUDRA McDONALD SOPRANO Audra McDonald is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and an actor. The winner of a record-breaking six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Emmy, in 2015 she received the National Medal of Arts— America’s highest honor for achievement in the field—from President Barack Obama. In addition to her Tony-winning performances in Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill —the role that also served as the vehicle for her Olivier Award-nominated 2017 debut in London’s West End—she has appeared on Broadway in The Secret Garden; Marie Christine (Tony nomination); Henry IV; 110 in the Shade (Tony nomination); Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Tony nomination); and Ohio State Murders (Tony nomination) . On television, she appeared as the Mother Abbess in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live!, won an Emmy Award for her role as host of PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center, and received Emmy nominations for Wit, A Raisin in the Sun, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. Having played Dr. Naomi Bennett on Private Practice (ABC) and Liz Reddick (formerly Lawrence) on both The Good Wife (CBS) and The Good Fight (Paramount+), she was most recently seen as Dorothy Scott on The Gilded Age (HBO). On film, she has appeared in Seven Servants, The Object of My Affection, Cradle Will Rock, It Runs in the Family, The Best Thief in the World, She Got Problems, Rampart, Ricki and the Flash, Disney’s live- action Beauty and the Beast, the movie-musical Hello Again, the documentary Whitney Houston in Focus, the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions’ Rustin, and MGM’s Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect. McDonald is a Juilliard-trained soprano, whose opera credits include La voix humaine and Send at Houston Grand Opera, and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Los Angeles Opera, where the resulting recording earned her two Grammy Awards. She has issued five solo albums on the Nonesuch label as well as Sing Happy with the New York Philharmonic on Decca Gold. She is a founding member of Black Theatre United, board member of Covenant House International, and prominent advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights, and her favorite roles are those performed offstage, as an activist, wife to actor Will Swenson, and mother. ANDY EINHORN CONDUCTOR The leading Broadway music director and conductor most recently served as the music supervisor and musical director for the Broadway productions of Hello, Dolly! starring Bette Midler (Grammy nomination) and Carousel starring Renée Fleming (Grammy nomination). Einhorn’s previous Broadway music directing and conducting credits include Holiday Inn , Bullets Over Broadway , Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Brief Encounter, and Sondheim on Sondheim. Other Broadway work includes Evita and The Light in the Piazza . Since 2011, Einhorn has served as music director and pianist for Audra McDonald, performing with her at prestigious orchestras and venues including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops at Tanglewood, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom, Cincinnati Pops, Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia, Los Angeles Opera, Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a series of recorded concerts with Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. They have recorded two albums together: Sing Happy: Live with the New York Philharmonic and Go Back Home. Einhorn served as the music director for HBO’s Peabody Award-winning documentary Six by Sondheim and music supervisor for Great Performances’ Peabody Award-winning special Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy on PBS. In 2019, Einhorn conducted Bette Midler and Marc Shaiman at the 2019 Academy Awards. He also music supervised and appeared on camera for the Emmy award-winning performance of Eat Sh*t Bob for HBO’s Last Week Tonight starring John Oliver. Recently, he has conducted concerts with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Aspen Music Festival. He is a guest faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and is a regular music director and pianist for the 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics and Lyricists series.