Audra McDonald, Brent Barrett and Kim Criswell are scheduled to join the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for concerts on Dec. 30 and 31 in Germany.

Thomas Hampson, Karl Daymond, Timothy Robinson, Michael Dore, Simone Sauphanor and the European Voices will also take part in the concerts featuring Simon Rattle as conductor. The program will include works by Kurt Weill and George Gershwin as well as several selections from Leonard Bernstein's Wonderful Town.

A three-time Tony Award winner for her work in Master Class, Carousel and Ragtime, Audra McDonald was most recently on Broadway in the title role of Marie Christine. The singer-actress will appear this season in the new NBC series "Mister Sterling," and she will make her solo Carnegie Hall concert debut on Nov. 2 in an evening of songs scored for big bands, performing several tunes from her upcoming Nonesuch CD "Happy Songs." McDonald's available solo recordings, "Way Back to Paradise" and "How Glory Goes," are also on the Nonesuch label.

Brent Barrett received an Olivier Award nomination for his role in the London company of Kiss Me, Kate, and he will continue in that Cole Porter classic through August. Barrett's other theatrical credits include the Broadway productions of Chicago, Annie Get Your Gun and Candide and the recent City Center Encores! mounting of The Pajama Game. He received a Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for his work in the L.A. production of Chicago and has been seen Off Broadway in Closer Than Ever, March of the Falsettos, The Death of Von Richtofen, The Time of the Cuckoo and Portrait of Jenny. His television and film appearances include "Hercules," "Longtime Companion," "All My Children," "Another World" and "Guiding Light."

Kim Criswell has appeared in a slew of musicals in the U.S. and in London. Among her theatre credits are Annie, Man of La Mancha, Annie Get Your Gun, Anything Goes, Nine, Baby, Of Thee I Sing, On the Town, Cats, Dames at Sea, Guys and Dolls and Jesus Christ Superstar. Criswell's recording career is equally prolific; her most recent solo album for JAY Records was entitled "Back to Before." The concerts will be held in the Main Concert Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic, which was completed in 1963. Tickets for the event go on sale Dec. 8; go to http://berlin-philharmonic.com for more information.

—By Andrew Gans