MasterVoices has revealed the lineup for its 83rd season, including a classic Gershwin political musical satire, a contemporary opera's New York City premiere, and a multimedia reimagining of Bach's B Minor Mass.
The season will kick off October 29 at Carnegie Hall with a concert staging of Strike Up the Band, featuring music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. MasterVoices Artistic Director Ted Sperling will lead the 120-member chorus and guest soloists in the rarely performed Gershwin musical comedy, which has a book by Morrie Ryskind based on a libretto by George S. Kaufman.
“Working with both the Gershwin and Kaufman estates, author Laurence Maslon and I will be creating a new edition of Strike Up the Band, which contains the best of the 1927 and 1930 versions of the show, which I hope may prove to be the blueprint for future performances of this work," Sperling said in a statement. "The MasterVoices concert staging will take full advantage of the wonderful dance music that follows so many of the songs, sometimes lyrical, other times comic, or military. We look forward to bringing these moments to life with dancers as we have done with pleasure so many times in our recent history.”
From February 3-4, 2025, MasterVoices will present the New York City premiere of Scott Davenport Richards and David Cote's opera Blind Injustice at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Based on Mark Godsey's book of the same name and casework by the Ohio Innocence Project, the opera explores the U.S. criminal justice system and how it can fail the wrongfully accused.
The season will close May 5 with Bach Reframed: The B Minor Mass at The Great Hall at The Cooper Union. The multimedia work features excerpts from J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass alongside texts and visuals by commissioned writers and artists.
"For several years, I have been eager for MasterVoices to present the B Minor Mass, but in a new way that we hope will shed light on the original Latin Mass text through the addition of new text and visuals that bloom from the original," added Sperling. "For those who know the piece well, this should be an exciting way to reframe it, and for those who might not normally come to hear a sacred piece like this, maybe this will be an enticing way to experience the piece for the first time.”
Visit MasterVoices.com for more information.
