Sutton Foster, Bernadette Peters, Sting, Seth MacFarlane and More Set for 'SINATRA' PBS Special Tonight
By: TV News Desk Dec. 18, 2015
LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER - the award-winning performing arts series that for more than 40 years has showcased the best of the wide-ranging programming from the world's leading performing arts center - today announced the national broadcast presentation of SINATRA: VOICE FOR A CENTURY, airing tonight, December 18, 2015 on PBS* (*check local listings).
This special star-studded concert event, to be presented by Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic as a gala fundraiser for the new David Geffen Hall on December 3, celebrates the music of Frank Sinatra on the occasion of his 100th birthday.
SINATRA: VOICE FOR A CENTURY will feature Music Director Alan Gilbert conducting the New York Philharmonic, and artists will include the six-time Grammy Award winning singer Christina Aguilera; top-selling instrumentalist in the U.S., Chris Botti; AMERICAN IDOL third season winner and Grammy awardee Fantasia; Tony Award winners Sutton Foster and Bernadette Peters; and multiple Grammy Award-winning singer and composer Sting, all of whom will perform music associated with Sinatra during his iconic career. TV series creator, filmmaker, and actor Seth MacFarlane will host the concert and the broadcast, as well as perform.
The live show is directed for the stage by Lonny Price and Matt Cowart, and directed for television by Lonny Price. The choreographer is Emmy Award-winner Joshua Bergasse. More artists to be announced. Andrew Carl Wilk is the executive producer of Live From Lincoln Center.
More about the Artists:
One of the most accomplished performers of the last decade, Christina Aguilera has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, achieved four No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and won six Grammy awards. She has also received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has had the prestigious honor of being named the only artist under the age of 30 included in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of THE 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2011 she entered the world of TV as a coach on NBC's Emmy Award winning show The Voice. Christina continues to use her voice for good. She has served as global spokesperson for Yum! Brands' World Hunger Relief effort since 2009 where her participation has helped raised $115 million for WFP and others, providing 460 million meals and saving millions of lives.
Since the release of his 2004 critically acclaimed CD, When I Fall in Love, trumpeter Chris Botti has become the largest-selling American instrumental artist. His success has crossed over to audiences usually reserved for pop music, and his close association with PBS has led to four #1 jazz albums, as well as multiple Gold and Platinum albums and Grammy Awards. Botti has performed with the best in music, including Sting, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Barbra Streisand, Yo-Yo Ma, Tony Bennett, and Joshua Bell, among others. He also had the honor of performing with Frank Sinatra.
Fantasia
Fantasia (born Fantasia Barrino) is an American R&B singer-songwriter, actress, and author. She rose to fame as the winner, at the age of nineteen, of the television series AMERICAN IDOL in 2004. Following that she released her first of four albums, and its first single, "I Believe," made her the first artist in Billboard history to debut at #1 on the Hot 100 chart. She performed the coveted role of Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway, winning a Theater World Award. She has had her own reality television series, and she has won a Grammy Award. She appears regularly before audiences on concert stages throughout the U.S.
Foster is an award-winning actor, singer, and dancer who has performed in eleven Broadway shows. Most recently, Foster appeared as Violet* in the Roundabout Theatre Company's Tony-nominated revival of Violet, a role which garnered her Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critic Circle award nominations. She originated roles in the Broadway productions of The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, and her Tony-winning performances in Anything Goes and Thoroughly Modern Millie. Her television credits include Bunheads, Flight of the Conchords, Sesame Street, and Law and Order: SVU. She currently stars in TVLand's series Younger, created by Darren Star. She has recorded two CDs and has performed internationally as a solo artist, gracing the stages of Carnegie Hall, Joe's Pub, Feinstein's, and Lincoln Center's American Songbook series.
Seth MacFarlane is a creator, writer, director and singer of some of today's most popular content, garnering two Emmy Awards, two Grammy Award nominations and an Academy Award nomination for his work in television, music and motion pictures. He has traveled the world to sing with renowned orchestras, such as the BBC Proms and the National Symphony Orchestra, lending his baritone voice to the hidden gems of the '40s and '50s swing era. He has released two successful albums and his third will debut this October. MacFarlane also created the hugely successful television show Family Guy, executive produced the Emmy-winning Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey and Starz' original show, Blunt Talk. His directorial debut, Ted, was the highest grossing original R-rated comedy. He then wrote, directed and produced A Million Ways to Die in the West and Ted 2.
One of Broadway's brightest stars, Bernadette Peters has three Tony Awards: for her roles in Annie Get Your Gun and Song and Dance, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award for her substantial contributions to the theater community and her volunteer work for humanitarian organizations. Peter's other major Broadway roles include Gypsy, A Little Night Music, Follies, Sunday in the Park with George, Mack and Mabel, and On the Town, among others. Peters has a TV and film career as well, with the moviePennies from Heaven earning her a Golden Globe nomination. Peters is currently taping the second season of the hit TV seriesMozart in the Jungle, and she is a New York Times best-selling author. Peters writes children's books, and her third and most recent is Stella and Charlie: Friends Forever.
Sting
Composer, singer, actor, author, activist, Sting formed The Police in 1977 with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. The band recorded five albums, earned six Grammy Awards, two Brits, and was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. Since 1989, Sting has released fourteen solo albums and received an additional ten Grammy Awards, two Brits, a Golden Globe, and an Emmy. He has sold a combined 100 million albums. Also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he was a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 2014. Earlier this year, Sting received a Tony nomination for his score of The Last Ship, a Broadway musical inspired by his childhood memories growing up in a shipbuilding community in England.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, 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 15 series, festivals, and programs including American Songbook, Avery Fisher Career Grants, Free Thursdays at the David Rubenstein Atrium, Great Performers, Lincoln Center at the Movies: Great American Dance, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, Martin E. Segal Awards, Midsummer Night Swing, Mostly Mozart Festival, White Light Festival, and the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS. 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, The 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, the School of American Ballet, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. In addition, LCPA led a series of major capital projects, now complete, on behalf of the resident organizations across the campus. For more information, visit lincolncenter.org or aboutlincolncenter.org.
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, the world's leading performing arts center. Now in its 41st 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 14 Emmy Awards and other honors for its broadcasting excellence. It recently won an Emmy Award for Best Outstanding Class Program for its 2014 broadcast of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street featuring Bryn Terfel, Emma Thompson and the New York Philharmonic. Additional LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER content, including past episodes and excerpts, is accessible online at PBS.org.
The New York Philharmonic plays a leading cultural role in New York City, the United States, and the world. This season's projects will connect the Philharmonic with up to 50 million music lovers through live concerts in New York City and on its worldwide tours and residencies; digital recording series; international broadcasts on television, radio, and online; and as a resource through its wide range of education programs and Digital Archives. Having commissioned and/or premiered works by leading composers from every era, the Orchestra now champions contemporary music through CONTACT! and the NY PHIL BIENNIAL. A resource for its community and the world, the Philharmonic complements its annual free citywide Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, with Philharmonic Free Fridays and wide-ranging education programs, including the famed Young People's Concerts and the New York Philharmonic Global Academy, collaborations with partners worldwide offering training of pre-professional musicians, often alongside performance residencies. Renowned around the world, having appeared in 432 cities in 63 countries, America's oldest symphony orchestra has long been a media pioneer, releasing almost 2,000 recordings since 1917 and today sharing live performances through downloads and online. Alan Gilbert became Music Director in 2009, succeeding 20th-century musical giants including Bernstein, Toscanini, and Mahler.
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