Cynthia Erivo Sings Through a Lost Voice at the Hollywood Bowl

Four days after a chest infection took her voice, Cynthia Erivo played “Let Me Sing to You” at the Hollywood Bowl and closed with “I Will Always Love You.”

Four days before her Hollywood Bowl concert, Cynthia Erivo had no voice. She told the audience on Thursday, October 15, that a chest infection and a cough had taken it, and that she would have performed even if she had to whisper.

The concert, titled “Let Me Sing to You,” was a one-night solo show with the Hollywood Studio Symphony behind her. It ran more than two hours across two acts. Erivo first headlined the Bowl in 2021, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The set drew on songs associated with Whitney Houston, Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin, and it ended with Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” During a freestyle section, Erivo credited hope with carrying her through the week. “There’s nothing like being in front of you, and giving you my soul,” she said.

The show came after a year of film and recording work: Erivo played Elphaba in Wicked: For Good in 2025 and released her second studio album, I Forgive You, that June.