MasterVoices
Presents

Bach Reframed: The B Minor Mass

By Johann Sebastian Bach

May 5, 2025 at 7:30PM | The Great Hall at the Cooper Union

Join us for an experiment in new approaches – firmly rooted in Bach’s unparalleled music – that looks at the underlying sentiment of those repeated-text passages. Kyrie/Lord, have mercy: what might that mean today? Who might be asking? Have mercy on whom?

Blind Injustice

February 3, 2025 at 7:30PM
February 4, 2025 at 7:30PM
Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center

At last, New York audiences have the chance to experience this riveting 2019 opera based on the true stories of six people, still living, who were unjustly accused and wrongfully imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. Each was ultimately exonerated.

Strike Up the Band

October 29, 2024 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

Get ready for another Gershwin powerhouse! This rarely performed gem kicked off a masterful trio that came to include OF THEE I SING (performed by MasterVoices in 2017) and LET ‘EM EAT CAKE (2019). Expect soaring melodies, infectious syncopation, and a healthy dose of silliness!

The Grapes of Wrath

By Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie

April 17, 2024 at 7:30PM | Carnegie Hall

Experience a powerful operatic adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel “The Grapes of Wrath,” featuring music by Ricky Ian Gordon and a libretto by Michael Korie.

To My Arms/Restore

By George Frideric Handel and Nico Bentley

March 22, 2024 at 7:30PM
March 23, 2024 at 7:30PM
NYU Skirball

Conceived and choreographed by Doug Varone, To My Arms / Restore combines Handel’s music with modern twists. Presented in two parts: one with dancers and Handel’s arias, followed by a choral masterpiece performance, mixed with electronic DJ’ing by Nico Bentley.

The Frogs

By Stephen Sondheim , Burt Shevelove and Nathan Lane

November 3, 2023 at 8:00PM
November 4, 2023 at 2:00PM
November 4, 2023 at 7:30PM
Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center

Dive into a world at war, where the extraordinary Dionysos seeks the ultimate playwright. In this enchanting comedy, witness as one poet strives to save a culture on the brink of destruction. Descend into Hades to witness one of Stephen Sondheim’s rare masterpieces, featuring the mesmerizing love ballad “Ariadne.”

Iolanthe

By Arthur S. Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert

May 3, 2023 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

IOLANTHE’s battle of the sexes pits members of Britain’s House of Lords against the Fairy Queen and her kin. Our production will honor “one of Sullivan’s finest scores” (The New York Times) with lush orchestration and top vocal talent from the worlds of opera and Broadway.

O How Good

March 23, 2023 at 7:30PM | Central Synagogue

Join us for a spiritually inclusive, gratitude-themed concert featuring Ernest Bloch’s SACRED SERVICE and Kurt Weill’s KIDDUSH, as well as the world premiere of a newly commissioned piece by Jerusalem-born composer Daniel Rein.

Carmen

October 25, 2022 at 8:00PM | Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall

Our intimate and lyrical English-language production of CARMEN is back! Originally scheduled for March 2020, director Sammi Cannold helms a new cast including Ginger Costa-Jackson as Carmen, Mikaela Bennett as Micaëla, and John Brancy as Escamillo. Sung in its original Opéra Comique version, with dialogue rather than recitative, our production marks the NY Premiere of this dramatic translation – written by Broadway legend Sheldon Harnick

Songs for a Summer Night

June 8, 2022 at 7:00PM | Waterline Square Park

This effervescent evening is designed to delight your senses – think balmy breezes, atmospheric surroundings, and a lush score that brings the sounds of summer to life. From the fairy forests of Felix Mendelssohn to the porch swings of Samuel Barber, this outdoor serenade will feature the MasterVoices Chorus and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, with vocalists Shereen Pimentel and Tariq Al-Sabir

Anyone Can Whistle

By Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents

March 10, 2022 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

Better than buried treasure! Come rediscover a madcap, provocative, and weirdly romantic gem, Anyone Can Whistle, from the legendary Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents.

A Joyful Noise

December 6, 2021 at 7:30PM | CARNEGIE HALL

Under the baton of Tony Award®-winning Artistic Director Ted Sperling, you can always expect surprise and delight.  With new arrangements of old holiday favorites, forgotten gems, and selections from multiple traditions, the evening will be a joyful return to live performance. Guest artists Mikaela Bennett and Take 6 join the MasterVoices Chorus to celebrate the holiday season, and to offer thanks to all who kept New York City going during the difficult pandemic hiatus.

Myths and Hymns〡4

May 26, 2021 at 6:30PM | Public Premiere

The fourth and final chapter, FAITH, explores the possibility of finding fulfillment through the possibility of finding fulfillment through belief in something bigger.

Myths and Hymns〡3

April 14, 2021 at 6:30PM | Public Premiere

The third chapter, LOVE, explores the possibility of finding fulfillment through relationships with others.

Myths and Hymns〡2

February 24, 2021 at 6:30PM | Premiere

The second chapter, WORK, explores the possibility of finding fulfillment through dedication, striving, and struggle.

The Halloween Tree

By THEO POPOV and Libretto by TONY ASARO

February 23, 2020 at 7:00PM | Alvin Ailey Theater

The Halloween Tree is a new opera, commissioned by American Lyric Theater in partnership with the Bradbury estate, with music by Theo Popov and libretto by Tony Asaro. Led by a mysterious guide, a group of children undertake an unforgettable journey to find their friend Pipkin, who has disappeared on Halloween night.

Iron & Coal

By Jeremy Schonfeld

January 10, 2020 at 8:00PM
January 11, 2020 at 8:00PM
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College

This powerful and personal chamber opera, presented in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects is based on the composer’s own personal story and that of his father, who was a childhood survivor of Auschwitz.

Let ‘Em Eat Cake

By George & Ira Gershwin and Book by George S. Kaufman & Morrie Ryskind

November 21, 2019 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

After the resounding success of their 1931 hit, Of Thee I Sing (performed by MasterVoices in 2017), the Gershwins re-teamed with librettists George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind for this madcap and blisteringly dark sequel. Let ‘Em Eat Cake picks up with the same motley crew, four years later – President Wintergreen has lost re-election, stages a military coup, fires the Supreme Court, and paints the White House blue.

Lady in the Dark

By Kurt Weill, Ira Gershwin, and Moss Hart

April 25, 2019 at 8:00PM
April 26, 2019 at 8:00PM
April 27, 2019 at 2:00PM
New York City Center

In 1941, the groundbreaking psychological thriller Lady in the Dark helped usher in a new era of innovation in musical theater thanks to its spectacular creative team of Gershwin, Hart, and Weill. Now, director and conductor Ted Sperling joins forces with choreographer Doug Varone and a team of top designers from the theater, dance, and fashion worlds to bring this seminal piece of theater history lavishly to life once more. Tony® winner Victoria Clark stars as Liza, a successful magazine editor wrestling with her inner demons and desires. Not seen in New York since City Center’s inaugural Encores! season in 1994, this physically expressive concert staging will be presented as part of NYCC’s 75th Anniversary Season.

Night Songs & Love Waltzes

March 1, 2019 at 8:00PM | Alice Tully Hall - Lincoln Center

Welcome to the intimate art of the part-song, a popular form of 19th century harmony most often sung around a loved one’s parlor piano. Night Songs and Love Waltzes showcases three compositional masters of this lost tradition – Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms – as well as brand new music from contemporary composer Ricky Ian Gordon. The evening will conclude with a specially arranged suite of waltzes from Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. What better way to embrace the coming spring than with this joyous and romantic celebration of shared song?

Israel in Egypt

By George Frideric Handel

November 28, 2018 at 8:00PM | Carnegie Hall

Handel’s timely oratorio about the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt takes on breathtaking new resonance through this multimedia interpretation, adapted from Los Angeles Master Chorale’s critically acclaimed production that premiered at Disney Concert Hall last February.  Maestro Sperling will lead soprano Mikaela Bennett, Countertenor John Holiday and Tenor, Andrew Stenson alongside  young artists from the Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts at Juilliard. The classical sounds of the New York Baroque Incorporated period instrument ensemble will blend with poignant contemporary images by Syrian-Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad as he creates a combination of pre-composed film and in-the-moment paintings that bring a personal perspective to the work’s human themes of exile, displacement, and longing for home.

Naamah’s Ark

By Marisa Michelson and Royce Vavrek

June 17, 2018 at 7:00PM | Free Concert | Rockefeller Park, entrance at Warren Street and River Terrace

This dramatic oratorio by composer Marisa Michelson and librettist Royce Vavrek tells the story of Noah’s Ark from the perspective of Noah’s wife, Naamah, who cares for the diverse species of animals on the Ark and guides them as they reach dry land. From the birds to the hippos, each group has its own concerns. Can they learn to live together after the crisis has passed? Inspired by the resilience of communities affected by Hurricane Sandy, this Father’s Day performance of Naamah’s Ark features community members from Lower Manhattan, the MasterVoices Chorus, and leading lady Victoria Clark, under the direction of Tony Award-winning conductor Ted Sperling.

Produced in collaboration with the River To River Festival, presented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), and Battery Park City Authority, this event is free and open to the public.

Orphic Moments

May 6, 2018 at 8:30PM
May 7, 2018 at 7:00PM
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall

MasterVoices presents Orphic Moments, an inventive evening that pairs Matthew Aucoin’s new dramatic cantata, The Orphic Moment, with an innovative staging of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice​. Conducted by Ted Sperling, directed by Zack Winokur, with scenic design by Douglas Fitch, Orphic Moments features countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, soprano Kiera Duffy, dancer Bobbi Jene Smith, violinist Keir GoGwilt, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and MasterVoices.

Our America

March 7, 2018 at 7:00PM | 7 East 7th Street | The Great Hall at The Cooper Union

Conceived by Artistic Director Ted Sperling, Our America puts MasterVoices’ diverse chorus in service of the wide range of immigrant stories and sounds that have come to define American music. The evening will feature newly commissioned work, American premieres, and new arrangements of classics.

Of Thee I Sing

By George & Ira Gershwin and Book by George S. Kaufman & Morrie Ryskind

November 2, 2017 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

A comic classic with satire that feels ripped from today’s headlines, Of Thee I Sing was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize when it debuted in 1931. With a tuneful and witty score by George and Ira Gershwin and a libretto by Kaufman and Ryskind, written during the time of their famed association with the Marx Brothers, MasterVoices’ production features  Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Denée Benton (The Great Comet), Kevin Chamberlin (The Addams Family), and Elizabeth Stanley (On the Town) in a tale of truth, justice, and corn muffins. Warning: no matter your political persuasion, it may remind you of some people you know!

Babes in Toyland

By Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough

April 27, 2017 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

Full of glorious melodies, Babes in Toyland hasn’t seen a major revival in New York City in over 85 years. Don’t miss the rare chance to experience this musical extravaganza, starring Kelli O’Hara and other Broadway greats, the 130 singers of MasterVoices, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, led by Ted Sperling.

St. John Passion

By Johann Sebastian Bach

February 9, 2017 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

MasterVoices performs Bach’s magnificent choral masterpiece St John Passion in a new English translation, featuring an impressive cast of rising stars and period instrument orchestra New York Baroque Incorporated.

27

By Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek

October 20, 2016 at 8:00PM
October 21, 2016 at 8:00PM
New York City Center

A scintillating exploration of the relationship between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek’s opera 27  takes you inside Stein’s Paris salon at 27 Rue de Fleurus, with such guests as Picasso, Hemingway, Matisse, and Fitzgerald.

Bridges

June 5, 2016 at 5:00PM | Ansche Chesed Synagogue

As a part of MasterVoices’ new community outreach program “Bridges – Connecting Communities Through Music”, Artistic Director Ted Sperling, soloists Katie Geissinger and Sachal Vasandani, and diverse community members from Lawrence, Long Island come together to perform Naamah’s Ark, a new MasterVoices commission by composer Marisa Michelson and librettist Royce Vavrek.

Dido and Aeneas

By Henry Purcell and Nahum Tate

April 28, 2016 at 7:00PM
April 29, 2016 at 7:00PM
New York City Center

Tony Award winners Kelli O’Hara and Victoria Clark star in a semi-staged version of Henry Purcell’s tempestuous Baroque opera Dido and Aeneas, led by Ted Sperling.

The Pirates of Penzance

By Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert

October 15, 2015 at 8:00PM
October 16, 2015 at 8:00PM
New York City Center

MasterVoices’ semi-staged presentation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s irresistible 1879 operetta, The Pirates of Penzance, featuring Metropolitan Opera star Deborah Voigt, Douglas Hodge (Tony Award Winner, La Cages aux Folles), and Phillip Boykin (Tony Award Nominee, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess), led by Artistic Director Ted Sperling.

The Road of Promise

By Kurt Weill and Franz Werfel

May 6, 2015 at 7:00PM
May 7, 2015 at 7:00PM
Carnegie Hall

The Road of Promise is a new concert adaptation of Kurt Weill and Franz Wefel’s 1937 epic musical spectacle, The Eternal Road. A dramatic mix of opera, musical theater, and biblical pageant play.

battle hymns

By David Lang

May 8, 2014 at 7:30PM | Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum

The Collegiate Chorale presents the New York Premiere of this unusual and haunting work, performed within the expansive Hangar Deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, a setting rich in the remembrance of wars served.

Mefistofele

By Arrigo Boito

November 8, 2013 at 8:00PM | Carnegie Hall

Mefistofele, by Arrigo Boito, based on the legend of Faust. Featuring bass-baritone Eric Owens, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, and soprano Julianna Di Giacomo, and with the combined forces of The Collegiate Chorale and Manhattan Girl’s Chorus depicting sorcerers, witches, will-o the-wisps, ancient Greek nymphs, penitents, and cherubim, this performance will provide heavenly music and devilish good fun.

Song of Norway

By Robert Wright and George Forrest

April 30, 2013 at 6:30PM | Carnegie Hall

A grand operetta in the truest sense, Song of Norway merges Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s great classics with the pizzazz of a Broadway musical.

Oceana | Symphony No. 7 “Toltec”

By Osvaldo Golijov and Philip Glass

February 10, 2013 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

The Collegiate Chorale announces the New York Premieres of two works by major composers: Symphony No. 7 “Toltec” by Philip Glass and Oceana by Osvaldo Golijov, featuring international jazz vocalist Biella Da Costa and the American Symphony Orchestra

Beatrice di Tenda

By Vincenzo Bellini

December 5, 2012 at 6:00PM | Carnegie Hall

His penultimate opera, Beatrice di Tenda is considered one of Vincenzo Bellini’s finest works.  Set in 15th century Milan and based on an actual historical figure, the opera tells of the tormented but saintly wife of the Duke of Milan, falsely accused of adultery by the scorned lover of one of her admirers and sentenced to death by her husband.

Contemporary Voices

May 11, 2012 at 7:00PM | St. Bartholomew's Church

Contemporary Voices features five musical gems by 20th and 21st Century masters of choral composition.The sanctuary of St. Bartholomew’s Church providing a beautiful setting for this music, conducted by The Chorale’s Music Director James Bagwell.

The Mikado

By Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert

April 10, 2012 at 6:30PM | Carnegie Hall

One of the most frequently produced musical theatre pieces in history, The Mikado is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W.S. Gilbert. The performance features Chuck Cooper, Jason Danieley, Christopher Fitzgerald, Amy Justman, Kelli O’Hara, Brad Oscar, Lauren Worsham, and the American Symphony Orchestra, directed and conducted by Ted Sperling.

Te Deum & A Child of Our Time

By Anton Bruckner and Michael Tippett

February 3, 2012 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

Written in response to Kristallnacht in a decidedly twentieth-century musical language,  A Child of Our Time  is a unique oratorio that reflects Tippett’s pacifism and belief that people contain both “shadow and light.”

Moïse et Pharaon

By Gioachino Rossini

November 30, 2011 at 8:00PM | Carnegie Hall

Music Director James Bagwell will conduct The Collegiate Chorale and American Symphony Orchestra with legendary bass-baritone James Morris, 2011 Richard Tucker Award Winner Angela Meade and renowned soloists Kyle Ketelsen, Eric Cutler and Marina Rebekain this opera-in-concert presentation.

We Remember Them:

March 10, 2011 at 7:00PM | Central Synagogue

In this concert of choral works by composers who perished in the Holocaust, as well as contemporary composers who wrote to sustain the memory of all those who suffered, we are also reminded of man’s profound ability to create beauty out of madness.

Knickerbocker Holiday

By Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson

January 25, 2011 at 8:00PM
January 26, 2011 at 8:00PM
Alice Tully Hall

Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson teamed up for the first time to create this delightful romantic comedy.  First performed in 1938 with Walter Huston in the role of Peter Stuyvesant, the work is one of Weill’s deft hybrid theater pieces which lies somewhere between operetta and musical theater, and also contains bits of political satire.

Alto Rhapsody and A German Requiem

By Johannes Brahms

October 13, 2010 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

International artist and Musical America’s 2009 Vocalist of the Year mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe performs with The Collegiate Chorale in Brahms’ lush, rarely-seen Alto Rhapsody.  Metropolitan Opera baritone Eric Owens and soprano Erin Morley will join The Chorale to perform Brahms’ transcendent masterpiece A German Requiem. 

Israel in Egypt

By George F. Handel

May 12, 2010 at 8:00PM | Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University

Handel’s Israel in Egypt is a rich musical setting of the biblical story of the Exodus.  In this choral tour de force, vivid images of the Exodus story are recounted during the first segment, which is complemented by the beautiful and exultant second half, The Song of Moses.  Both colossal and tender, this work of epic imagery and text painting is one of Handel’s monumental achievements.

The Grapes of Wrath

By Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie

March 22, 2010 at 8:00PM | Carnegie Hall

Originally commissioned and produced by the Minnesota Opera and called “The great American opera” by Musical America, Gordon and Korie’s new work melds popular musical styles of the ‘20s and ‘30s with the classic drama of grand opera, all to a heart-wrenching yet uplifting effect.  The composer (Gordon) and librettist (Korie) have crafted a special concert version of their original opera with narration written especially for this presentation.

A Jubilant Song

December 1, 2009 at 7:00PM | Carnegie Hall

Maestro James Bagwell in his inaugural concert as The Chorale’s newly appointed Music Director presents A JUBILANT SONG, a celebration of the organization’s remarkable history of exceptional conductors, noteworthy commissions, and premieres, and multi-faceted choral programming