Cook, who recently led a Master Class at Carnegie Hall, will celebrate her 80th birthday with the Philharmonic. The evening of song is scheduled for Nov. 19, 2007.
McDonald, who is due back on Broadway later this season in the Roundabout's revival of 110 in the Shade, will appear in Luciano Berio's Folksongs March 5-8, 2008. The songs, according to press notes, "are drawn from multiple European traditions and languages, but Berio sets them in a contemporary musical language that simultaneously honors and expands tradition." Folksongs will also feature Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 and Haydn's Symphony No. 45 in C major.
Barbara Cook has starred on Broadway in Flahooley, Candide, The Gay Life, The Music Man and She Loves Me. She received a Best Featured Actress in a Musical Tony Award for her performance in The Music Man, and her one-woman show, Mostly Sondheim, was nominated for a Tony in the Best Special Theatrical Event category. Cook was most recently on the New York stage in Barbara Cook's Broadway. Both Mostly Sondheim and Barbara Cook's Broadway were recorded for DRG. Cook made her solo debut at the Metropolitan Opera, which was recently released on DRG Records.
A four-time Tony Award winner for her work in A Raisin in the Sun, Master Class, Carousel and Ragtime, Audra McDonald was also seen on Broadway in Henry IV. The singer-actress made her solo Carnegie Hall concert debut in an evening of songs scored for big bands, performing several tunes from her Nonesuch CD "Happy Songs." McDonald's other solo recordings, "Way Back to Paradise" and "How Glory Goes," are also on the Nonesuch label. The acclaimed actress also co-starred in the NBC series "Mister Sterling” and was recently seen in the WB series "Bedford Diaries." McDonald also made her Houston Grand Opera with a double bill of Send (who are you? I love you) and La Voix Humaine.
For more information visit www.nyphil.org. *
As previously announced, the New York Philharmonic will present semi-staged concert performances of My Fair Lady at Avery Fisher Hall March 7-10.
