Audra McDonald is New Host of PBS's LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER

Related: Audra McDonald, PBS, Live From Lincoln Center

According to the Associated Press, PBS announced yesterday that five-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald will be the new host for the long-running series LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER. The singer and actress will helm seven broadcasts of the show starting next month through spring of 2013.

She will first apear on the December 13th broadcast featuring "The Richard Tucker Opera Gala", followed by the December 31 episode featuring the New York Philharmonic's New Year's Eve gala, "One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch"

Said McDonald, "It's a great honor. I'm thrilled that they came to me and trusted me to do it. I remember watching Beverly Sills broadcasting from the Met on my PBS channel at my home in Fresno."

Elizabeth Scott, Lincoln Center's executive in charge of the TV series commented, "We can't imagine a more perfect match." She went on to call McDonald's love of the performing arts "infectious."

"Live From Lincoln Center", now in its 37th broadcast season, brings broadcasts of live performances of music, drama, and dance direct from the stages of Lincoln Center in New York City into homes across America and around the world. Presenting work by the world's premier performers, the Emmy Award–winning program invites the television audience to experience live performance with all the intimacy and immediacy of being right on stage.

McDonald won a 2012 Tony Award for The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. She earned three Tony Awards by the age of 28 for her performances in Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime. She was nominated for another Tony Award for her performance in Marie Christine before she won her fourth in 2004 for her role in A Raisin in the Sun. She reprised her Raisin role for a 2008 television adaptation, earning her a second Emmy Award nomination. She also starred in the ABC series "Private Practice" as Dr. Naomi Bennett.