Mark the calendar. Audra McDonald returns to Fresno for rare performance
The Fresno Philharmonic announced its 2026-27 season on Wednesday.
Among the expanded community collaborations and two world-premiere performances was this rare bit of concert programming — An Evening With Audra McDonald.
The Broadway star (and Fresno native and cultural arts supporter) will be in town March 19 for a concert at William Saroyan Theatre. While the event is presented by the Fresno Philharmonic, it will be performed without the orchestra as one of a pair of California dates for McDonald. She performs in Berkeley the following night.
Tickets for the show are on sale now for philharmonic subscribers. Individual tickets won’t be on sale until Aug. 13.
McDonald is a respected singer and actor, on Broadway (where she is a six-time Tony Award winner) and in movies and television (most recently HBO’s “The Gilded Age.”) She is a bona fide celebrity, the kind who performs at the Met Gala and is on James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke,” which she did alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda.
McDonald was last in Fresno in 2023, performing in celebration of Good Company Players’ 50th anniversary as a favor to the community theater company and its managing director Dan Pessano. McDonald graduated from Roosevelt High School for the Performing Arts in Fresno after getting her earliest career training (like at 10 years old) with Good Company Player’s Junior Company.
The last time she performed with the Fresno Philharmonic was a 2018 concert at Saroyan Theatre. That show sold out. Even the price-inflated secondary market tickets couldn’t be had.
Fresno Philharmonic 2026-27 schedule: Full season
This is the Fresno Philharmonic’s 72nd season and its 10th under the direction of Rei Hotoda.
“The 2026-2027 season is all about the ways music connects us to our past, our community and to each other,” Hotoda said in a statement announcing the season. “This season we’ll explore the richness of American music, the contributions of Armenian immigrants to Fresno, and the joy of making music together with the Fresno Master Chorale and Youth Orchestras of Fresno.”
The orchestra’s full schedule includes:
- Marsalis Trumpet Concerto: Sept. 26-27 at Paul Shaghoian Memorial Concert Hall
- Elgar Enigma Variations: Nov. 21-22 at Paul Shaghoian Memorial Concert Hall
- Home for the Holidays concert: Dec. 5 at William Saroyan Theatre. With the Fresno Master Chorale.
- Mendelssohn Reformations Symphony, a Daniel R. Martin Community Concert: Feb. 20-21, at Warkentine Culture and Arts Center. World premier of new commissioned work.
- Sibelius, Mozart and Kouyoumdjian: April 3-4 at Paul Shaghoian Memorial Concert Hall. World premier of new commissioned work.
- Carmina Burana: May 1-2 at William Saroyan Theatre. With the Youth Orchestras of Fresno.
- Link Up School Concerts: May 25-27 at the William Saroyan Theatre. A program of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.
Also announced: Comedian Ali Wong
In other concert news, comedian Ali Wong announced three new dates on her upcoming tour, which kicks off in Copenhagen, Denmark next week. Among those is an Oct. 1 stop at Fresno’s Warnors Theatre.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday with presales happening now.
Wong is a Netflix comedian. While she has an extensive resume of TV, film and work acting work, she may be best known for the work she’s done for the streaming service. That includes as series of stand up-specials (the latest, “Single Lady,” was released in 2024) and the comedy series “Beef” (she starred alongside Steven Yeu).