LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER "Lincoln Center Special: A Gala Night at Alice Tully Hall"

- Broadcast of Gala Concert Marks Temporary Closing of Famed Alice Tully Hall for Renovation; Tom Brokaw, Audra McDonald, Wynton Marsalis, Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass and Others Salute the Storied New York Concert Hall -

In late April, Lincoln Center will produce a star-studded gala concert saluting one of the country’s most storied venues, Alice Tully Hall. The performance will be the last in the hall before the lights go out to complete renovations as part of Lincoln Center's multi-year transformation. LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER "Lincoln Center Special: A Gala Night at Alice Tully Hall" will incorporate segments from this concert with narrative feature clips that pay tribute to the legendary hall and footage of what's in store when Alice Tully Hall re-opens in fall 2008 at the start of Lincoln Center's 50th-anniversary season. "A Gala Night at Alice Tully Hall" airs Thursday, May 3, 2007, 8:00-9:30 p.m. ET on PBS. Former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw, one of America's most recognized broadcast journalists, emcees.

Musicians and singers who have made frequent appearances at Alice Tully Hall will perform. Trumpeter and Jazz at Lincoln Center Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis and vocalist Audra McDonald join the Juilliard Orchestra, under the baton of David Robertson, to perform music from Leonard Bernstein's beloved West Side Story, which was set in the tenement neighborhood razed in the late 1950s to build Lincoln Center. Composer Philip Glass will make a rare appearance to play one of his solo piano etudes. Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson will perform once again on the hall's stage. Members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall's resident company, will play music of Mendelssohn.

Since it opened in 1969, Alice Tully Hall has been the setting for thousands of exciting events, from debuts and world premieres to star-studded openings and galas, including the New York Film Festival. Named for its principal benefactor, arts patron Alice Tully, the elegant 1,100-seat hall is considered one of New York City's premier theaters. After nearly 40 years of year-round use, the hall will undergo much-needed upgrades. Aesthetic transformations, designed by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro in association with FX Fowle Architects, will create a soaring, three-story, all-glass outer lobby and an auditorium with innovative lighting that features translucent walls.

LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER has made the world's greatest artists accessible to home viewers in virtually every corner of the United States and remains the only series of live telecast performances on American television today. LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER, hosted by Beverly Sills, has received 12 Emmy Awards.

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