Kelli O'Hara, Victoria Clark, Betsy Wolfe, Montego Glover & More Join MasterVoices' 2015-16 Season

New York City's famed Collegiate Chorale - founded in 1941 by legendary conductor Robert Shaw - announced four strategic initiatives that position the organization for its next phase of performing excellence:

- A new name - MasterVoices - to reflect a broadening and deepening of artistic vision;

- A new partnership with New York City Center, featuring concert performances of operettas and operas in English, debuting with The Pirates of Penzance and Dido and Aeneas;

- A revival of the organization's commitment to commissioning new work, with world premieres this season by Michael John LaChiusa and Marisa Michelson; and

- A new outreach program, "Bridges," in which MasterVoices will engage with a community in the New York City area each season to create and perform a newly commissioned work and explore creative performing spaces throughout the five boroughs.

"I'm very excited by the changes we are making this year," said Ted Sperling, Artistic Director of MasterVoices. "Our new name more accurately reflects what we have become: a performing arts organization which celebrates storytelling through the masterful voices of our chorus, our world-class soloists, and the creative voices of the composers, librettists, designers and directors whose work we produce. MasterVoices has developed a family of guest artists who are extremely versatile, crossing the porous boundary between opera and musical theater with ease. We are delighted to be starting a partnership with City Center, whose capabilities will allow us to heighten the theatricality of our presentations. And our commissioning new work for both City Center and our new outreach program, Bridges, is a return to a long-standing tradition of the group that has lain dormant for too long. With these new initiatives, MasterVoices enters a new era with renewed vigor and energy."

"The Board and staff have considered the possibility of a name change for more than a decade," said co-chairs Susan Baker and George Grumbach. "We've experienced confusion surrounding the former name and decided that with the launch of our new City Center series and so many other significant strategic initiatives the time is right to take this important step."

"I'm delighted that City Center will be host to this new series from MasterVoices," said New York City Center President & CEO Arlene Shuler. "We are particularly thrilled that Dido and Aeneas will feature two of City Center's Board members, Vicki Clark and Kelli O'Hara. We look forward to working with MasterVoices for many years to come."

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The 2015-2016 Season:

The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty

By Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert

Featuring Deborah Voigt, Betsy Wolfe and Montego Glover

Conducted by Ted Sperling with Orchestra of St. Luke's

October 15-16, 2015 at 8pm at New York City Center

The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing

A workshop with Music by Justine Chen, Libretto by David Simpatico

Presented by the American Lyric Theater

October 17, 2015 at 7pm at Merkin Concert Hall

Mahler's Symphony No. 2

Conducted by Zubin Mehta, presented by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

November 5, 2015 at Carnegie Hall

Dido and Aeneas / As-yet-untitled World Premiere

Music by Henry Purcell, Libretto by Nahum Tate

World Premiere companion work by Michael John LaChiusa

Featuring Kelli O'Hara and Victoria Clark

Conducted by Ted Sperling with Orchestra of St. Luke's

April 28, 2016 at 7pm at New York City Center

April 29, 2016 at 8pm at New York City Center

Mahler's Symphony No. 2

Conducted by Joshua Gersen, presented by the New York Youth Symphony

May 29, 2016 at Carnegie Hall

The 2015-2016 season will conclude in June with a program featuring a World Premiere work composed by Marisa Michelson developed for the launch of MasterVoices' new community outreach program, Bridges. The location of this program will be announced at a future date.

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A special presale for City Center performances will be available to members in August; tickets will be on sale to the general public on September 8, 2015. For tickets and more information, visit www.mastervoices.org.

MasterVoices is building upon The Collegiate Chorale's preeminent reputation for its interpretations of the traditional choral repertoire, vocal works by American composers, and rarely heard operas-in-concert, commissions and premieres. The chorus has worked with great luminaries of the music world, singing under conductors Leonard Bernstein, Alan Gilbert, James Levine, Zubin Mehta and Riccardo Muti, along with many others. Some of the renowned artists with whom The Chorale has worked in recent seasons include Jamie Barton, Stephanie Blythe, Victoria Clark, Nathan Gunn, Thomas Hampson, Angela Meade, Kelli O'Hara, Roger Rees, Bryn Terfel and Deborah Voigt. Recent seasons' highlights have included Eric Owens in Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele with the Manhattan Girls Chorus at Carnegie Hall; David Lang's battle hymns with members of the Veteran Artist Program and the Manhattan Girls at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum; Eric Idle in Not The Messiah; and the U.S. Premiere of Kurt Weill's The Road of Promise featuring Anthony Dean Griffey, Mark Delavan and Ron Rifkin with the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride