A two-time GRAMMY® Award-winning recording artist, Academy Award-winning actress, and Tony and Emmy Award-winning producer, Jennifer Hudson is the youngest female EGOT winner in history.
From humble beginnings, Hudson began singing in a small Chicago church where, week after week, she brought the congregation to its feet. From there, she’s vaulted to worldwide acclaim.
In 2007, Hudson won an Academy Award for her role as Effie in the smash hit “Dreamgirls,” an adaptation of the Broadway musical, and her 2008 self-titled debut won a Grammy Award for “Best R & B Album.”
Hudson most recently cemented her historic status by earning a Tony Award as co- producer on this year’s Best Musical, “A Strange Loop.” She was also named “Entertainer of the Year” at the 2022 NAACP Image Awards and recently earned Grammy and Golden Globe nominations for the film’s original song, “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home),” which she co-wrote alongside Jamie Hartman and the legendary Carole King.
Hudson can currently be seen on her new, one-hour nationally syndicated talk show, “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” which features her powerful voice in a new way, bringing fun, uplifting, and empowering conversations to the forefront.
Photo credit: Michael Tammaro
Sean O’Loughlin is the Principal Pops Conductor of Symphoria, the exciting new symphony in Syracuse, NY, and the newly appointed Principal Pops Conductor of the Victoria Symphony in Victoria, B.C., Canada. A fresh voice and a rising name in the music world, his music is characterized by vibrant rhythms, passionate melodies, and colorful scoring. Commissions from the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra highlight and showcase his diverse musical abilities. As a conductor, he has led performances with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Victoria Symphony and the Seattle Symphony amongst others.
Recent collaborations include such artists as Sarah McLachlan, Adele, Josh Groban, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Journey, Melissa Etheridge, Blue Man Group, Janelle Monáe, Audra McDonald, Hall and Oates, Gloria Estefan, the Indigo Girls, Diana Krall, Itzhak Perlman, Natalie Merchant, Chris Isaak, Pink Martini, Brandi Carlile, The Decemberists, Martina McBride, Josh Ritter, Gloria Gaynor and others.
Founded in 1910, the San Diego Symphony is the oldest orchestra in California and one of the largest and most significant cultural organizations in San Diego. The Orchestra performs more than 140 concerts to over 250,000 people each season, offering a wide variety of programming at its two much loved venues, Copley Symphony Hall in downtown San Diego and The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, it’s breathtaking outdoor venue on San Diego Bay. Rafael Payare serves as music director of the SDSO, leading the orchestra’s 82 full-time musicians, graduates of the finest and most celebrated music schools in the United States and abroad. Payare’s profound musicianship, technical brilliance, and charismatic presence on the podium has elevated him as one of the most sought-after young conductors in the country. The SDSO also serves as the orchestra for the San Diego Opera each season, as well as performing at several regional performing arts centers. And for more than 30 years, the San Diego Symphony has provided comprehensive music education and community engagement programs reaching more than 65,000 students annually and bringing innovative programming to San Diego’s diverse neighborhoods and schools. For more information, visit www.sandiegosymphony.org.