Kelli O'Hara in Concert

Kelli O'Hara has established herself as one of Broadway's greatest leading ladies. The Tony Award winner, Emmy and Grammy-nominated actress has appeared in 13 Broadway shows to date, for which she has garnered eight Tony Award nominations.

She won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, along with Grammy, Drama League and Outer Critics nominations for her portrayal of Anna Leonowens in The King and I. O’Hara’s other Broadway credits include Kiss Me Kate, The Bridges of Madison County, Nice Work if You Can Get It, South Pacific, The Pajama Game, The Light in the Piazza, Sweet Smell of Success, Follies, Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde.

O’Hara received an Emmy Award nomination for her portrayal of Katie Bonner in Topic's hit web series, The Accidental Wolf, and can currently be seen on HBO’s The Gilded Age. Additional film and television credits include Showtime's Master of Sex, 13 Reasons Why, Blue Bloods, All My Children, All the Bright Places, Peter Pan Live!, Sex & The City 2, Martin Scorsese's The Key to Reserva, The Good Fight, N3mbers and Car Talk.

In 2015, she made history as the first artist to make the crossover from Broadway to opera when she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in The Merry Widow opposite Renee Fleming and in 2018 returned as Despina in Così fan tutte. She was last seen at the Metropolitan Opera as Laura Brown in the world premiere of The Hours by Kevin Puts.

O’Hara is a frequent performer on PBS's live telecasts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and performs often alongside the New York Philharmonic and the New York Pops. Along with her two Grammy nominations, her solo albums, Always and Wonder in the World, are available on Ghostlight.

In 2024, O'Hara returned to Broadway in the New York Times ‘Critics Pick’ new musical, Days of Wine and Roses, for which she earned her eighth Tony Award nomination.

From: Rochester, New York. LA Opera: conductor for Kelli O'Hara concert (2025, debut).

Bob Bernhardt has been a constant presence with the Louisville Orchestra for the past 43 years: as assistant and associate conductor, as principal guest conductor with Kentucky Opera, and now for 27 years as the orchestra’s principal pops conductor. He is concurrently in his 10th season as pops conductor of the Grand Rapids Symphony and music director emeritus of the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, where he previously spent 19 seasons as music director. 

Previously, he was music director of the Tucson Symphony, principal conductor and artistic director of the Rochester Philharmonic, music director of the Amarillo Symphony, and artistic director of the Lake Placid Sinfonietta.   

In the past decade or so, Bob has made his conducting debuts with the Baltimore Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, Louisiana Philharmonic, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Florida Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony and Santa Barbara Symphony, all of which were rewarded with return engagements.

He has a continuing 17-year relationship with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, conducting there several times each season, and as festival conductor for their Labor Day festival, Symphony Under the Sky. This year marks the 31st anniversary of his debut with the Boston Pops where he is a frequent guest, having first been invited there in 1992 by John Williams.

Recently, he returned to the podiums in Boston, Nashville, Detroit, Edmonton, Vail, Florida, Grand Rapids, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Santa Barbara, Louisiana, Portland ME, and Rochester, and made his debut with the Utah Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and the New Jersey Symphony..

His professional opera career began with the Birmingham Opera in 1979, two years before he joined the Louisville Orchestra. He worked with Kentucky Opera for 18 consecutive seasons including six as its Principal Guest Conductor. In over 25 years with his own opera company in Chattanooga, he conducted dozens of fully staged productions in a genre he adores.

Born in Rochester, New York, he holds a Masters degree (Honors) from the University of Southern California’s School of Music where he studied with Daniel Lewis. He is also a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of Union College in Schenectady, New York where he played four years of varsity soccer and baseball. In his senior year, he was captain of the soccer team, and was selected an Academic All-American baseball player. (While not all the research is in, Bernhardt believes that he is the only conductor in the history of music to be invited to Spring Training with the Kansas City Royals. After four days, they suggested to him a life in music.)

His two children, Alex and Charlotte, live in the Seattle area. He and his wife, Nora, live on Signal Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

From: River Edge, New Jersey. LA Opera: music director for Kelli O'Hara in concert (2025).

Dan Lipton conducted The Band’s Visit and Sting’s musical The Last Ship on Broadway. He’s arranged music and led bands for Sutton Foster, Kelli O'Hara, Mandy Gonzalez, Brian d’Arcy James, Judy Kuhn, John Lithgow, Martha Plimpton and Audra McDonald, performing at the White House, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, on Live with Kelly Ripa, The Today Show, PBS Great Performances, The Late Show with David Letterman and with major symphony orchestras across the country.

Music supervision and orchestrations: An Officer and a Gentleman (US tour), The Other Josh Cohen (off-Broadway), The Drama Desk Awards. Music direction and onstage musician: Twyla Tharp’s How Long Blues (Little Island) under T Bone Burnett, The Coast of Utopia by Tom Stoppard (Broadway), The Bridge Project (BAM, Old Vic) with Ethan Hawke directed by Sam Mendes, Herringbone with BD Wong directed by Roger Rees (La Jolla Playhouse).

He scored the feature film All These Small Moments (Orion Classics) starring Molly Ringwald and provided music for the podcasts Arts Educators Save the World (Story Pirates) and The Key of Love (Emerald Audio Network) from bestselling author Jenna Blum.

A piano soloist on three Grammy-nominated albums, he can be heard on piano in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime Video) and Rebecca Hall’s award-winning film Passing (Netflix 2021). His latest collection of jazz-pop covers with singer Colby Beserra, Jukebox Saloon Vol. 2, is streaming everywhere.

Learn more at DanLipton.com.