Carnegie Hall’s 2018–2019 season will launch October 3 with an opening night gala featuring the San Francisco Symphony and two titans of the theatre and opera world: Audra McDonald and Renée Fleming.
Six-time Tony Award winner McDonald and Fleming, who will appear in the upcoming revival of Carousel in her Broadway musical debut, will offer an evening of show tunes and opera arias and duets. The evening will also feature Gershwin’s An American in Paris under the baton of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. Thomas is set to curate a total of seven concerts in the season as part of Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives series.
Fleming will also sing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall March 19, 2019.
The New York Pops return to the venue with a lineup that once again features several stage favorites, including Ashley Park of Broadway’s upcoming Mean Girls musical and Tony winner Billy Porter.
The Pops’ season begins October 19 with Roll Over Beethoven: A Different Kind Of Orchestra, showcasing music from the likes of Elvis Presley and the Beatles, featuring Las Vegas favorite Frankie Moreno. The lineup continues November 16 with a tribute to Broadway featuring the Essential Voices USA choir and the New York Theatre ballet, a December 22 holiday program with guest artist Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins), Porter in Unforgettable: Celebrating Nat King Cole and Friends February 8, and Park, Ryan Silverman, Storm Large, and Ryan Shaw in Movie Mixtape: Songs from the Silver Screen March 15.
All New York Pops events will be conducted by music director Steven Reineke, who celebrates his tenth season with the orchestra.
Carnegie Hall’s programming also includes its citywide Migrations: The Making of America festival, which explores the journeys of artists from around the world who have influenced American culture. The festival will include the April 15 presentation of From Shtetl to Stage: A Celebration of Yiddish Music and Culture. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel will introduce a scene from her 2017 Tony-nominated play Indecent as part of the evening.
Additional highlights from the roster include Jonas Kaufmann performing selections from his album You Mean the World to Me (October 5), Elīna Garanča (October 23, and again with the Met Orchestra June 14), Joyce DiDonato with Metropolitan Opera Music Director Designate Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra (November 13), Juan Diego Flórez (November 18), Anna Netrebko (December 9), Michael Feinstein (February 6), Nézet-Séguin leading the Philadelphia Orchestra in the New York premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie suite prior to his opera’s debut at the Met (March 8), and Iestyn Davies, currently making his Broadway debut in Farinelli and the King (May 16).
For the complete season, visit CarnegieHall.org.
Revisit McDonald's stirring rendition of Evita's "Rainbow High" from her 2015 Carnegie Hall recital below.
