BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL

”Stokes,” as he is known to colleagues—does more than merely narrate the two-hour retrospective program. He “shares” the Choir, as if introducing viewers to one of his closest friends. 

That’s because Stokes has soloed with the Choir in three major concerts and, for over a decade, has continued a close personal association and collaboration with the Choir’s leadership.

Stokes is an accomplished pianist and arranger, and his ability to lead the audience through twenty years of concerts grows out of his affinity for the Choir’s approach to music-making. Whether singing with the full orchestra to a packed house of 21,000 or alone at the piano with the Choir’s music director, Mack Wilberg, Stokes knows that what happens in the Conference Center every Christmas is about more than the carols and songs. It’s about bringing people together. Referring to an occasion when the Choir sang to him personally, Stokes recalls, “Love has many sounds—that’s definitely one of them.” 

Tony Award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell is an accomplished actor, singer, musician and arranger. Mitchell received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards for his star turn in “Kiss Me, Kate.” He also gave Tony-nominated performances in “Man of La Mancha,” August Wilson’s “King Hedley II,” and “Ragtime.” In 2016, he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame and received his most recent Tony Award for his work as Chairman of the Board of The Actor’s Fund, a position he has continuously held since 2004. He is also on the Board and Artist Committee of Americans for the Arts and is a founding member of Black Theatre United.

Mitchell was four days from opening “LOVE/LIFE” at City Center Encores when all of Broadway, and most of the country shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, that didn’t stop him. Even while recovering from Covid in March of 2020, he received unexpected additional acclaim and attention for singing “The Impossible Dream” from his apartment window every night for a number of weeks during the pandemic in honor of the essential workers.