Audra McDonald, who has wowed Boston-area audiences and critics alike as Bess in the American Repertory Theater production of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess this month, launches her own North American fall concert tour this weekend. The two-month tour begins with a season-opening performance with the Celebrity Series of Boston on Sunday at Symphony Hall. [Update: Saturday's Kimmel Center performance has been rescheduled to November 30.] The tour, which includes performances at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and in McDonald's hometown of Fresno, among many others, will run through the end of November. See below for all the currently scheduled dates; for additional information and ticket links, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

"Audra McDonald has been dazzling audiences for more than a decade with her stunning soprano voice," says NPR's Tell Me More. McDonald was a guest on the show and spoke with host Michel Martin about playing Bess and the fall tour. You can listen to the interview at npr.org.

McDonald also spoke with the Star-Ledger in New Jersey for a preview of next week's performance at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton. In the article, she discusses, among other things, what to audience can expect to hear on the tour: a mix of the classics of the American Songbook by the likes of Gershwin and Stephen Sondheim as well as newer additions to the repertoire by composers like Adam Guettel. Read the article at nj.com.

Following the tour, Audra McDonald reunites with her fellow stars of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, Norm Lewis and David Alan Grier, for a Broadway run at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Previews begin December 17 and opening night is on January 12. For tickets, go to porgyandbessonbraodway.com.

Porgy and Bess at the Richard Rodgers Theater will mark Audra McDonald's first Broadway production since joining the cast of ABC's Private Practic four years ago. She is the winner of four Tony Awards, for Carousel (1994), Master Class (1996), Ragtime (1998), and A Raisin in the Sun (2004). McDonald has recorded four solo albums for Nonesuch Records—Way Back to Paradise (1998), How Glory Goes (2000), Happy Songs (2002), and Build a Bridge (2006)—and is also featured on the Nonesuch albums Leonard Bernstein's New York, John Adams's I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, and Dreamgirls in Concert. To peruse McDonald's Nonesuch catalog, head to the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders include high-quality 320 kbps MP3s at checkout.

AUDRA McDONALD ON TOUR