“[Lincoln Center] is the one place in New York City that I consider my home.”
So said Audra McDonald last night to Charlie Rose in talking about her career on stage and screen, her new album Go Back Home (Nonesuch Records) and her upcoming performance on Live From Lincoln Center.
See the complete interview here, and don’t forget to tune-in on Friday on PBS (check local listings).
(Audra McDonald performing at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall; Photo by Richard Termine/Lincoln Center)
It’s here! Tickets are now on sale for Lincoln Center’s 25th Anniversary Midsummer Night Swing festival! Join us as we turn Lincoln Center into one big open-air ballroom and dance the night away!
Check out the Midsummer Night Swing website for special deals and the complete summer schedule!
Take your seats! Live From Lincoln Center host Audra McDonald takes to the stage this week, as featured performer for her own special concert on PBS. Read more about her adventures at Lincoln Center, as a student at the Juilliard School, seeing the New York Philharmonic, and performing on campus, via the New York Daily News.
Don’t forget to tune in on Friday to see her perform on Live From Lincoln Center (check local listings).
Last night at a special ceremony at Lincoln Center’s Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, five Avery Fisher Career Grants were awarded to violinists Bella Hristova and Itamar Zorman; pianistts Kuok-Wai Lio and Andrew Tyson; and the Escher String Quartet.
The Avery Fisher Artist Program, established by the late Avery Fisher as part of a major gift to Lincoln Center in 1974, serves as a monument to Mr. Fisher’s philanthropy and love of music, with the Career Grants in particular exemplifying his devotion to helping young artists. Since the first Career Grants were given in 1976, 128 have been awarded (including this year’s grants), and all recipients are currently working musicians. Identified early in their careers, among former Career Grant recipients are violinists Leila Josefowicz and Augustin Hadelich, pianists Jonathan Biss and Yuja Wang, and the Pacifica Quartet.
Avery Fisher Career Grants of the Avery Fisher Artist Program are designed to give professional assistance and recognition to talented instrumentalists, as well as chamber ensembles, who the Recommendation Board and Executive Committee of the Avery Fisher Artist Program believe to have great potential for major careers. Each recipient receives an award stipend of $25,000, to be used for specific needs in furthering a career.
A special performance from this ceremony will be broadcast on WQXR on May 22. To learn more about the award and this year’s recipients, click here.
(Pictured, left to right: Charles Avery Fisher; Nancy Fisher; Kuok-Wai Lio, pianist; Itamar Zorman, violinist; Bella Hristova, violinist; Nathan Leventhal, Chairman, Avery Fisher Artist Program. Credit: Henry Grossman)
Just announced: Lincoln Center today announced that Jed Bernstein, a dynamic, entrepreneurial arts executive, theater producer and educator, was unanimously selected by its Board of Directors to be its next President, succeeding Reynold Levy in January 2014. The announcement was made by Katherine Farley, Lincoln Center Board Chair.
Jed has been professionally engaged in the arts for more than two decades. He led the Broadway League for 11 successful years and is a Tony Award®-winning independent Broadway producer through Above the Title Entertainment, a production company and marketing consultancy he launched in 2006. In 2011, Jed joined with the Bridge Street Foundation to spearhead the financial and creative restructuring and extensive renovation of the historic Bucks County Playhouse, and became its producing director.
In accepting the new position, Jed said, “The chance to lead the next phase of Lincoln Center’s evolution is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Growing up on the Upper West Side, I watched as it was first created and was fortunate that my parents took me to a countless number of performances. I can think of no professional challenge more fulfilling than to be asked to share my enthusiasm for the importance of all the performing arts with Lincoln Center’s many constituencies. It is with great pride that I follow Ren’s terrific legacy, and I am grateful to the Board for its confidence and support.”
Read the full announcement here.
On May 14, 1959, the official groundbreaking for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts took place. The photo above is from the official ceremony, which included President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and a performance by the New York Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein of Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.
(Photo: Bob Serating)
