Audra McDonald

Audra McDonald is a celebrated American singer and actress who has won a record six Tony Awards including, uniquely, all four acting prizes plus Grammy and Emmy Awards and has had hit albums on both the classical and jazz charts. Her stellar Broadway productions have included 'The Secret Garden' (1991), 'Carousel' (1994), 'Something Wonderful' (1995), 'Ragtime' (1998), 'Master Class' (1995), 'Marie Christine' (1999), 'Henry IV' (2003), 'A Raisin in the Sun' (2004), '110 in the Shade' (2004), 'The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess' (2012), 'Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill' (2014) and 'Shuffle Along, Or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed' (2016). She played Madame Garderobe in the 2017 movie 'Beauty and the Beast', on television she starred in the long-running series 'Private Practice' and appeared in series such as 'Grey's Anatomy' (2009), 'The Good Wife' (2013) and 'The Good Fight' (2018).

Born to American parents on a military base in Berlin, she grew up in California, joined the Dan Pessano and Good Company Players and went on to study at the Juilliard School in New York. After graduation, she landed quickly on Broadway and by the time she was 28 she had won three Tony Awards. She made her debut with the New York Philharmonic performing Stephen Sondheim's 'Sweeney Todd, Demon Barber of Fleet Street' in 2000 with many more productions to follow including Kurt Weill's 'The Seven Deadly Sins' in 2001, 'Sondheim: The Birthday Concert' in 2010 and 'Songs by Ellington' at the 120th Anniversary Gala of Carnegie Hall in 2011. Her debut album 'Way Back to Paradise' (1998) features new songs by young songwriters, 'How Glory Goes' (2000) features standards, 'Happy Songs' (2002) includes songs by major songwriters, 'Build a Bridge' (2006) has songs by Neil Young, Laura Nyro, Elvis Costello and Randy Newman, '110 in the Shade' (2007) is the Broadway cast album, and she sings more standards on 'Go Back Home' (2013).

The original Broadway cast recording of 'Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill' topped Billboard's Jazz Albums Chart in 2014 and her 2018 release 'Sing Happy', the live recording of the New York Philharmonic's 2018 Spring Gala, went to number two on Billboard's Classical Albums Chart with concert dates set across America in 2018 and into 2019.