Star-Studded 'BERNSTEIN ON BROADWAY' New Year's Eve Concert to Air on LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER

This New Year's Eve, LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER rings in 2018 with a celebration of the legendary Leonard Bernstein on the occasion of his centennial year.

As previously announced, Broadway stars Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George), Christopher Jackson (Hamilton), Laura Osnes (Cinderella), and Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal) will perform selections from some of the composer's most beloved musical theater works. Bramwell Tovey conducts members of the New York Philharmonic and LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER series host Audra McDonald will present the broadcast.

Bernstein enjoyed a more than four-decade relationship with the Philharmonic, including 11 years as music director and 21 years as Laureate Conductor. The concert is part of the orchestra's celebration of Bernstein's 100th birthday year, and will feature selections from his musical theater compositions, including On the Town, West Side Story, Wonderful Town, and Candide.

"Live From Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic are a New Year's Eve tradition for millions of Americans around the country," said Andrew Carl Wilk, Executive Producer of Live From Lincoln Center. "We're proud to be celebrating the legendary Leonard Bernstein this year with such brilliant performers, who will bring their enormous talent and personal interpretations to some of the great composer's most iconic music."

"As someone who was privileged to meet and work with Bernstein and to attend his classes at Tanglewood, it is always a huge honor to conduct his orchestra in his music," said conductor Bramwell Tovey. "Part of his genius was composing works that transcend classical music and resonate deeply in the popular canon. I'm thrilled to be part of this uplifting evening and, through PBS, to bring these masterpieces to audiences around the country."

During the day, audiences can go behind the scenes on Lincoln Center's Facebook page, @LincolnCenterNYC, where performers from the concert will invite them to delve into Bernstein's legacy through treasures from the exhibition Leonard Bernstein at 100, currently on view at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

At intermission of the PBS broadcast that evening, Audra McDonald will guide television viewers through a retrospective look at the legendary composer and conductor with material from the New York Philharmonic Archives about his life and works performed in the concert.

Live From Lincoln Center's New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve: Bernstein on Broadway airs nationally on PBS on Sunday, December 31, 2017, 9:00-11:00 pm*.

The first LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER broadcast on New Year's Eve took place in 1984 and featured the New York Philharmonic, which has appeared nearly every year since, including each of the last 13 years. This episode of LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER is directed for television by Matthew Diamond.

*Check local listings

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Emmy and Grammy Award winner Audra McDonald holds the distinction of being the Tony Awards' most decorated performer with six Tony Award wins in her career to date. Her affiliation with Lincoln Center and its resident organizations is inspiring. One year after graduating from The Juilliard School in 1993, McDonald made her Lincoln Center Theater debut in a Tony Award-winning performance of Carousel. Since then, she has performed numerous times for Lincoln Center Theater, the New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and as a guest artist for The Juilliard School. She currently serves as the host of Live From Lincoln Center. Her appearances at Lincoln Center over the years include Marie Christine (1999), Lincoln Center Theater; Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2000, in concert), New York Philharmonic; 2001 Concerts in the Parks, New York Philharmonic; Henry IV (2003), Lincoln Center Theater; Charles Ives: An American Original in Context(2004), New York Philharmonic; Lincoln Center's American Songbook 2005; New Year's Eve 2006 with Audra McDonald and Members of the New York Philharmonic; Sondheim: The Birthday Concert (2010), New York Philharmonic; One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch (2012), New York Philharmonic; and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street(2014), Live From Lincoln Center, New York Philharmonic.

Annaleigh Ashford was seen earlier this year as Dot in Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, and as Helena in The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. She won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her portrayal of Essie in You Can't Take It With You. Other Broadway credits include Sylvia in Sylvia; the original Lauren in Cyndi Lauper's Kinky Boots (Clarence Derwent Award; Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations); Glinda in Stephen Schwartz's Wicked; Jeannie in Galt MacDermot's Hair; and the original Margot in Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin's Legally Blonde the Musical. Off-Broadway credits include Dot in Sunday in the Park with George at City Center's Encores!, Maureen in Jonathan Larson's Rent, and Marcy in Pasek & Paul's Dogfight. On television, Ms. Ashford played Betty on Showtime's critically acclaimed Masters of Sex. Other television and film credits include Columbia in The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Fox, Nurse Jackie, The Big C, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Smash, Unicorn Store, Sex and the City, Better Off Single, Top Five, Rachel Getting Married, and Frozen. Her critically acclaimed solo show, Annaleigh Ashford: Lost in the Stars Live at 54 Below, was released by Broadway Records in 2016. Ms. Ashford recently completed work on Ryan Murphy's highly anticipated 2018 FX miniseries AMERICAN CRIME Story: Versace, as well as The Woody Allen Summer Project and the movie SECOND ACT with Jennifer Lopez. These performances mark Annaleigh Ashford's New York Philharmonic debut.

Christopher Jackson is a Tony Award-nominated actor as well as a Grammy and Emmy Award-winning songwriter/composer best known for starring as George Washington in Lin-Manuel Miranda's critically acclaimed, award-winning Broadway musical Hamilton. Mr. Jackson's Broadway credits include Todd Kreidler's Tupac Shakur musical Holler if Ya Hear Me, After Midnight, Bronx Bombers (Derek Jeter), Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights (Benny), David Bryan and Joe DiPietro's Memphis (Delray Farrell), and Elton John's The Lion King (Simba). Off-Broadway credits include Bronx Bombers (Primary Stages), The Jammer (Atlantic Theater Co.), Lonely, I'm Not (Second Stage), In the Heights (37 Arts), and Cotton Club Parade (City Center's Encores!). Mr. Jackson can currently be seen starring in the hit CBS drama BULL as Chunk, a stylist who prepares defendants for trial. He also recorded an original song written by Lin-Manuel Miranda for the 2016 Disney film Moana. In film and television, he has appeared in FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME (Pivot Network), Person of Interest, A Gifted Man, Fringe, Gossip Girl, Tracers, and Afterlife. He was also the composer/songwriter for Sesame Street (six Emmy nominations and one win) and co-music supervisor and writer for The Electric Company (PBS). Mr. Jackson won an Emmy Award for his song with Will.i.am, "What I Am." In 2010 he released his first solo album, In the Name of Love, with Yellow Sound Lab Records and is currently working on his second album. He also has several musical projects in development for the musical stage. These performances mark Christopher Jackson's New York Philharmonic debut.

Laura Osnes just completed a starring run in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Bandstand (Drama Desk, Drama League nominations), featuring music by Richard Oberacker. Other Broadway credits include Cinderella in Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (Drama Desk Award; Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Astaire nominations); Bonnie Parker in Frank Wildhorn's Bonnie and Clyde (Tony Award nomination), after creating the role at Asolo Repertory Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse (San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award); Hope Harcourt in the Tony Award-winning revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Astaire Award nominations); Nellie Forbush in Lincoln Center Theater's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific; and Sandy in the most recent revival of Warren Casey's Grease. Other New York/regional credits include the Gershwins' Crazy for You (Manhattan Concert Productions); The Blueprint Specials; Weill's The Threepenny Opera (Drama Desk Award nomination) at the Atlantic Theater Company; City Center's Encores! productions of The Band Wagon, Randy Newman's Faust, and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Pipe Dream; Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music in concert at Carnegie Hall; Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel opposite Steven Pasquale at Lyric Opera of Chicago; and Broadway: Three Generations at the KENNEDY Center. On television, she has been seen on the CBS series Elementary, in the HBO pilot The Miraculous Year, the New York Philharmonic's Sondheim: The Birthday Concert in March 2010, HBO's documentary Six by Sondheim, and THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS salutes to Barbara Cook (2011) and Dustin Hoffman (2012). Her many concerts and cabaret appearances include performances with Michael Feinstein, the New York Philharmonic, New York Pops, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Boston Pops, and San Francisco and National Symphony Orchestras, and appearances at venues including Carnegie Hall, Café Carlyle, 54 Below, Lincoln Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Smith Center in Las Vegas, and Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. In addition to being heard on several cast recordings, Laura Osnes has two solo albums, Dream a Little Dream: Live at the Café Carlyle and If I Tell You: The Songs of Maury Yeston. Laura Osnes made her New York Philharmonic debut in Sondheim: The Birthday Concert in March 2010; she most recently appeared with the orchestra in A Broadway Romance, alongside Santino Fontana and conducted by Ted Sperling, in February 2015.

American theater, television, and film actor Aaron Tveit is currently starring in the CBS comic-thriller BrainDead as Gareth, a Republican operative, opposite Mary Elizabeth Winstead. He recently appeared as Danny Zuko in the television special Grease: Live opposite Julianne Hough and Vanessa Hudgens; Stereotypically You alongside Lewis Black, Kal Penn, and Lauren Miller; and in the 2016 film UNDRAFTED with Chace Crawford and Tyler Hoechlin. Mr. Tveit starred on Broadway in Marc Shaiman's Catch Me If You Can as Frank Abagnale Jr., and also created the role of Gabe in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Next to Normal, with music by Tom Kitt, which he developed Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater and debuted on Broadway. He is featured on the cast recordings for both shows. He also appeared in the Broadway productions of Stephen Schwartz's Wicked and Shaiman's Hairspray, and starred in the national tours of Hairspray and Jonathan Larson's Rent. In May 2013 he sold out six shows at NYC's 54 Below in record time. Aaron Tveit has received numerous honors for his theater work, including the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance in Next to Normal and the Actors' Equity Association Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Actor. Nominations include Distinguished Performance from the Drama League, Best Male Dancer from the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards, and Outstanding Featured Actor from the Outer Critics Circle Awards, all for his work in Catch Me If You Can. Mr. Tveit appeared as Enjolras in the film Les Misérables alongside Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, and Russell Crowe. His other film credits include Premium Rush, Howl, and Ghost Town. Television credits include GRACELAND and numerous guest starring roles on The Good Wife, Body of Proof, Ugly Betty, and Law & Order: SVU. These performances mark Aaron Tveit's New York Philharmonic debut.

Grammy and Juno Award-winning conductor/composer Bramwell Tovey was appointed music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2000. Under his leadership the VSO has toured China, Korea, Canada, and the United States. Mr. Tovey is also the artistic adviser of the VSO School of Music, a state-of-the-art facility and recital hall which opened in downtown Vancouver in 2011. In 2018, the VSO's centenary year, he will become the orchestra's music director emeritus. The 2017-18 season in Vancouver includes tours in the fall and spring showcasing the orchestra in their home state as well as key east-coast Canadian cities. Other engagements will take Mr. Tovey to the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Houston, Toronto, and Melbourne Symphonies, as well as returns to summer festivals in Vail, Tanglewood, and the Hollywood Bowl. An active composer, Bramwell Tovey won the 2003 Juno Award for Best Classical Composition for his choral and brass work Requiem for a Charred Skull. Past commissions include the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, and Calgary Opera, which premiered his first full-length opera, The Inventor, in 2011 (a recording of which by the VSO with UBC Opera and the original cast has been released on Naxos). In 2014 his trumpet concerto, Songs of THE PARADISE Saloon, was performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Alison Balsom as soloist in both concerts. A talented pianist as well as conductor and composer, he has appeared as soloist with many major orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics and Sydney, Melbourne, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Toronto, and Royal Scottish National Symphony Orchestras. In the summer of 2014 he played and conducted Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and in Saratoga with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has performed his own Pictures in the Smoke with the Melbourne and Helsingborg Symphonies and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Tovey was music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 1989 to 2001, and music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg from 2002 to 2006. Bramwell Tovey is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London and Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and holds honorary degrees from the universities of British Columbia, Manitoba, Kwantlen, and Winnipeg. In 2013 he was appointed an honorary Officer of the Order of Canada for services to music. Mr. Tovey made his New York Philharmonic debut leading a Young People's Concert in October 2000, and he led his first subscription concert in March 2002, comprising works by Haydn, Stravinsky, Webern, and Mozart. Most recently he conducted an all-American program during the orchestra's July 2017 Bravo! Vail residency.

The New York Philharmonic plays a leading cultural role in New York City, the United States, and the world. Each season the Philharmonic connects with up to 50 million music lovers through live concerts in New York City and on its worldwide tours and residencies, as well as with its digital recording series, international broadcasts, and education programs. In the 2017-18 season, during which Jaap van Zweden serves as Music Director Designate, the Philharmonic celebrates its greatest strengths and essential commitments while looking to the future as an innovative global ensemble, spotlighting its musicians and partners, dedication to new music, wide-ranging repertoire, education programs, and accessibility.

The Philharmonic has commissioned and/or premiered works by leading composers from every era since its founding in 1842, including Dvorák's New World Symphony; Gershwin's Concerto in F; John Adams's Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls, dedicated to the victims of 9/11; Esa-Pekka Salonen's Piano Concerto; and Wynton Marsalis's The Jungle (Symphony No. 4). Its commitment to new music led to the creation of CONTACT!, the new-music series, now in its ninth season.

A resource for its community and the world, the Philharmonic complements annual free concerts across the city-including the Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer-with Philharmonic Free Fridays and the famed, long-running Young People's Concerts. Committed to developing tomorrow's leading orchestral musicians, the Philharmonic established the New York Philharmonic Global Academy; current projects and partners include the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership and Santa Barbara's Music Academy of the West. The Orchestra also continues its residency partnership with the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan. Renowned around the globe, the Orchestra has appeared in 432 cities in 63 countries. Highlights include the groundbreaking 1930 tour of Europe; the unprecedented 1959 tour to the USSR; the historic 2008 visit to Pyongyang, DPRK, the first there by an American orchestra; and the Orchestra's debut in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2009.

A media pioneer, the Philharmonic has made more than 2,000 recordings since 1917, and was the first major American orchestra to offer downloadable concerts, recorded live. In 2016 it produced its first-ever Facebook Live concert broadcast, reaching more than one million online viewers through three broadcasts that season. The Orchestra's extensive history is available free, online, through the New York Philharmonic Leon Levy Digital Archives, which makes available every printed program since 1842, plus scores and parts marked by musicians and music directors, including Mahler and Bernstein. By the end of 2018 more than three million pages of documents will be available.

Founded in 1842 by local musicians led by American-born Ureli Corelli Hill, the New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world. Notable composers and conductors who have led the Philharmonic include Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Stravinsky, Copland, and Mitropoulos. Jaap van Zweden will become music director in 2018-19, succeeding musical leaders including Alan Gilbert, Maazel, Masur, Zubin Mehta, Boulez, Bernstein, Toscanini, and Mahler.

Live From Lincoln Center is a cornerstone of performing arts broadcasting, presenting the world's greatest artists and performances in music, dance, and theater from Lincoln Center's renowned stages. Now in its 43rd season on PBS, the pioneering series-produced by Lincoln Center-has been seen by hundreds of millions of viewers since its debut and celebrated by 17 Emmy Awards and other honors for its broadcasting excellence. Additional LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER content is accessible online at PBS.org.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community engagement, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA offers a variety of festivals and programs, including American Songbook, Avery Fisher Career Grants and Artist program, David Rubenstein Atrium programming, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Awards for Emerging Artists, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, LC Kids, Midsummer Night Swing, Mostly Mozart Festival, White Light Festival, the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS, and Lincoln Center Education, which is celebrating more than four decades enriching the lives of students, educators, and lifelong learners. As manager of the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Theater, The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, School of American Ballet, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Lincoln Center has become a leading force in using new media and technology to reach and inspire a wider and global audience. Reaching audiences where they are-physically and digitally-has become a cornerstone of making the performing arts more accessible to New Yorkers and beyond. For more information, visit LincolnCenter.org.

Lincoln Center is committed to providing and improving accessibility for people with disabilities. For information, contact Accessibility at Lincoln Center at access@lincolncenter.org or 212.875.5375.

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