4 minute read
Audra McDonald Sings Broadway; Sondheim, Porter, Gershwin
BY SAMANTHA JOHNSTON
Summer evenings in the Benedict Music Tent are always enchanting, but Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) fans are in for a special treat when Broadway star, six-time Tony, and two-time Grammy Award winning soprano Audra McDonald takes the stage Thursday, August 3 at 7:30 p.m.
McDonald, a Juilliard-trained soprano who is well known not only for her luminous voice, but also for her roles in Carousel, Ragtime, and Porgy and Bess, will perform selections from the Great American Songbook and beloved Broadway shows.
Accompanied by a full orchestra conducted by her Music Director Andy Einhorn, the performance will feature music from composers such as Duke Ellington, Stephen Sondheim, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, and Cole Porter, among others.
“Audra exudes an absolute and utterly captivating stage presence,” says Patrick Chamberlain, vice president of artistic administration at AMFS. “To hear this music played by a full orchestra—there’s nothing like it. And with a commanding performer like Audra, it’s a treat.”
Einhorn, one of the great conductors of the Songbook, is no stranger to the Aspen community and is well known for his work throughout the years with Theatre Aspen and as a teacher to students at the AMFS.
“He’s an artist and thinker and conductor who takes the Broadway musical repertoire completely seriously and also pairs that with an infectious joy,” Chamberlain says.
The performance will include very accessible repertoire that is not so much nostalgic for a simpler time as it is a unique and joyful nod to American culture.
“I grew up in love with the Great American Songbook and with Broadway musicals of the Golden Age,” says Einhorn. “You are talking about a canon of work that is as timeless and relevant as ever.”
A canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early twentieth century, The Songbook brings audiences on a lifelong journey.
“The most interesting thing about this repertoire is that we will have people in the audience of various ages who have heard the music at various points in their lives,” Einhorn says. “We hear and listen to the music differently after we’ve lived a little. I can’t think of another form of music that transcends time and matures with you as you age.”
McDonald is known for treating her performances as if the audience is sitting in her living room. She has an uncanny ability to connect to individuals through music and to make people in the audience feel as if they truly know her.
“Audra is the quintessential humanitarian entertainer,” Einhorn says. “The magical thing about Audra is that when she walks onto the stage, she finds a way to communicate with the audience in such a direct and beautifully cutting way. She is a person of the moment and everything she does is as genuine as it could ever be.”
The evening will include many songs that are fun and familiar. Einhorn is particularly proud of an arrangement of John Kander’s Cabaret that he and Audra finished at the end of the pandemic.
“It’s a powerful reminder to get out there and live your life, to keep going,” Einhorn says. “Coming out of the pandemic, there’s never been a better song to be forced to sing. It is the greatest celebration of life out there.”
Einhorn says that some composers—Ellington, Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein—deserve more than just a piano or a trio, so performing their works with a full orchestra will allow the colors of the music to come to life in the Benedict Music Tent.
“This concert is the reason I believe this Festival exists. For these students to get to perform on stage with an artist like Audra makes this a once-in-a-lifetime experience and the perfect amalgam between student talent and professional educators,” Einhorn says. “No matter what else happens in my life, after this concert I will die a happy man.”
