Timeline

Robert Shaw founds The Collegiate Chorale with Gordon Berger at Marble Collegiate Church. Shaw becomes the first Music Director of The Chorale and holds that position from 1941-1953.

The Collegiate Chorale performs the Verdi Requiem under the baton of Arturo Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

The Collegiate Chorale performs at the opening of the United Nations.

The Collegiate Chorale performs the Bach St. Matthew Passion with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Leonard Bernstein at Carnegie Hall.

Mayor Koch issues an official proclamation declaring January 31, 1981 “Collegiate Chorale Day” in honor of The Chorale’s 40 years of cultural service to New York City.

Robert Bass institutes the “Opera-in-Concert” series as an annual component of each season’s programming, beginning with Verdi’s Nabucco. The series continues to this day and has featured many world-class artists including: Deborah Voigt, Harolyn Blackwell, Salvatore Licitra, Dolora Zajick, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ewa Podles and Nathan Gunn.

Roger Rees narrates Weber’s Oberon for The Chorale and is named Artistic Associate, working with The Chorale to develop the “American Masters” series exploring works of musical theater and their origins. This popular series continues to the present day and has featured works of Leonard Bernstein, Scott Joplin, Philip Glass, Kurt Weill, Ricky Ian Gordon, and others.

The Collegiate Chorale launches its “Side-by-Side” Education program allowing a select group of high school students the opportunity to rehearse and perform with The Collegiate Chorale in New York and abroad.

The Collegiate Chorale makes its Verbier Festival (Switzerland) debut in the Verdi Requiem under the baton of James Levine.

The Collegiate Chorale presents the New York Premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie’s The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall with Nathan Gunn, Victoria Clark, Christine Ebersole, Jane Fonda (Narrator), and Ted Sperling (Conductor).

The Collegiate Chorale presents the New York Premiere of David Lang’s battle hymns at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum with the Manhattan Girls Chorus and James Bagwell, conductor.

The Collegiate Chorale announces its new name MasterVoices and a new series at New York City Center.