Handel, VOX Opera Lab, and Hammerstein Tribute Set For MasterVoices' 2026-27 Season
Erin Morley and Jakub Józef Orliński will perform at Carnegie Hall, with the Hammerstein tribute set for David Geffen Hall.
MasterVoices announced its 85th anniversary season, celebrating the power of the human voice to unite, inspire, and connect. The 2026-27 season opens December 15 at Carnegie Hall when MasterVoices brings acclaimed soprano Erin Morley and countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński together for an all-Handel celebration. On April 26 in David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, MasterVoices honors wordsmith Oscar Hammerstein II. The concert will showcase a selection of his hit songs and lesser-known works—reflecting his transformative contribution to musical theater—and will feature a cast of Broadway stars performing new and classic arrangements.
Celebrating Handel at Carnegie Hall
On December 15 at 7:30 pm, at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium Perelman Stage, Ted Sperling, the 120–member MasterVoices Chorus and the period-instrument ensemble New York Baroque Incorporated light up the holiday season with the music of George Frideric Handel, in a concert featuring two of the most iconic opera stars of their generation: soprano Erin Morley, known for her “impressive coloratura technique and a sumptuous sound” (The New York Times), who returns to MasterVoices following recent Metropolitan Opera appearances in The Magic Flute and La Fille du Régiment; and “the first operatic superstar to win over Gen Z” (Telegraph Luxury), Polish countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński, who returns to perform in New York for the first time in five years, following a sold-out international concert tour. The two singers previously collaborated in the Metropolitan Opera production of Matthew Aucoin's Eurydice during the 2021-22 season.
Celebrating Handel promises a feast of virtuosic singing and Baroque drama as it journeys through worlds of heroes, gods, and lovers, featuring selections from Samson, Theodora, Semele, Giulio Cesare, and more. The evening's Handel celebration will conclude with an audience singalong of the Hallelujah chorus from Messiah.
VOX: American Voices Opera Lab at Perelman Arts Center
On April 1, 2027, at Perelman Arts Center, the Chorus will participate in VOX: American Voices Opera Lab, the only program of its kind dedicated to presenting excerpts of new grand operas by contemporary American composers. Despite a thrilling surge today of innovative composers, librettists, singers, and an expanding audience eager to experience cutting-edge new work, opportunities to workshop grand-scale works are increasingly rare. The revival of VOX bridges this critical gap, and VOX will showcase excerpts of four works-in-progress operas in concert presentations of 20 to 30 minutes each, performed with soloists, full orchestra, and chorus. The deadline for submissions for the 2027 VOX presentations is August 1, 2026.
VOX is being relaunched this season as a landmark collaboration among seven leading musical organizations in New York City: American Composers Orchestra provides the orchestra; Beth Morrison Projects is the Producer of VOX and Beth Morrison serves as Director and Creative Producer; MasterVoices provides the chorus and Artistic Director Ted Sperling serves as VOX's Music Director; The Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program provides the principal singers with additional singers provided by Manhattan School of Music and Mannes School of Music; and, as the presenter, Perelman Arts Center provides the venue and the labor needed to present the production.
Hammerstein's Broadway at David Geffen Hall
On April 26, 2027, at 7 pm, at David Geffen Hall's Wu Tsai Theater at Lincoln Center, Tony Award winner Ted Sperling, one of Broadway's foremost Rodgers & Hammerstein interpreters, leads the MasterVoices Chorus and Orchestra, and a cast of Broadway stars, in tribute to innovative lyricist-librettist Oscar Hammerstein II, who changed the musical theater by creating popular musicals that pushed the boundaries of form and subject matter, while exploring ideas of politics, race, and class. The program will include selections from monumental successes like Oklahoma!, South Pacific, Show Boat (celebrating the 100th anniversary of its Broadway premiere), and Carmen Jones, as well as songs from lesser-known musicals like Very Warm for May, Sweet Adeline, The Desert Song, and Allegro. The program, performed with a lush orchestra and large chorus, will feature original arrangements and newly commissioned ones that give these famous songs a fresh sound.
Said Ted Sperling, “Our upcoming season celebrates two artists who were immensely successful at capturing the imagination of their respective audiences, but who had to change course midstream in their careers to adjust to changing tastes and standards. In the process of reinventing themselves as creators, they found new depths of feeling and new forms in which to express those feelings; Handel invented the English oratorio, and Hammerstein revolutionized the American musical; how grateful are we to be able to celebrate these two titans of theatrical music making!”
Additional collaborations and performances
On August 11-17, the MasterVoices Chorus will participate in the Joe Hisaishi Film Music Concert at Radio City Music Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, conducted by Hisaishi and presented by The Bowery. The performances include music of the celebrated Studio Ghibli classics, plus scores from Takeshi Kitano, Isao Takahata films, and more.
On September 25 and 26, the MasterVoices Chorus will participate in two free outdoor performances presented by the Ukrainian Museum, in celebration of its 50th anniversary, in partnership with Citizen Arts International, a citywide festival of multidisciplinary performance in public spaces.
