Audra McDonald, international singing phenomenon, Broadway superstar, television and film star, will be heading to Australia in May 2024, performing concerts in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
“I’m delighted to return to Australia, and once again perform at the iconic Sydney Opera House and the wonderful Hamer Hall in Melbourne,” said Audra. “This trip marks my first time performing in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, and I can’t wait to get to know the Australian audiences and experience these beautiful cities next May.”
Audra is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and actor. But her voice must be heard to be believed. The winner of a record-breaking six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards and an Emmy Award, she is also the only performer to have won a Tony Award in all four acting categories.
Blessed with a luminous soprano voice and an incomparable gift for dramatic truth-telling, she is as much at home on Broadway and the opera stage as in her film and television roles. Alongside her theatrical work, she maintains a major career as a concert and recording artist, regularly appearing at the world’s foremost venues. She has sung with virtually every major American orchestra.
She is also one of Hollywood’s most loved leading ladies, starring in long-running TV dramas including The Good Fight and The Good Wife, as well as other long-running shows hit shows including Private Practice as Dr Naomi Bennett, The Gilded Age, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Kidnapped and The Bedford Diaries. She has also appeared in many films including as Madame de Garderobe in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast.
In 2013, her critically acclaimed performance as the Mother Abbess in NBC’s live telecast of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, opposite Carrie Underwood as Maria, was watched by an estimated 18.5 million people across America.
In 2015 she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people and received a National Medal of Arts – America’s highest honour for achievement in the field – from President Barack Obama.
Audra has performed in musicals, operas, and dramas such as Carousel, Ragtime, Master Class, and Porgy and Bess. McDonald’s other theatre credits include The Secret Garden, Marie Christine, Henry IV, 110 in the Shade, Twelfth Night, Shuffle Along, All That Followed, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and Ohio State Murders.
As a classical soprano, she has performed in staged operas with the Houston Grand Opera and the Los Angeles Opera, and in concerts with symphony orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic.
“When she sings—ah, it’s a God-touched voice. This is one performance that lovers of musical theatre and, let’s be honest, simply music, won’t want to miss” – New York Times
Audra McDonald will perform at Crown Perth Theatre (4 May); Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide (8 May); Concert Hall – Sydney Opera House (11 May); Concert Hall – QPAC, Brisbane (15 May); and Hamer Hall – Arts Centre Melbourne (17 May). For more information, visit: www.concertworks.com.au for details.
Image: Audra McDonald (supplied)