Ted Sperling, Artistic Director of MasterVoices, announced its 2025-26 season, celebrating the power of the human voice to unite, inspire and connect, since 1941.
The season opens November 21-22 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall with three performances of a revised concert production of Marvin Hamlisch, Craig Carnelia and John Guare’s musical Sweet Smell of Success.
Alice Tully Hall’s Starr Theater will be the setting for Sins and Grace on March 23-24, a program featuring the world premiere of Seven: A Cycle of Sins, a newly-commissioned song cycle based on the seven deadly sins for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra written by seven different composing teams. It will be contrasted with Fauré’s Requiem.
On September 6-7, the MasterVoices Chorus will participate in two performances of ARCH, an installation opera by Kaleider, a UK-based production studio, as part of the free Down to Earth Festival, a project of the CUNY Graduate Center Martin E. Segal Theatre. The performances will be held at The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. The Chorus will also perform on September 13 in The Amph at Little Island, in a program showcasing the distinctly American sound of Charles Ives.
Sweet Smell of Success at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall
On November 21 at 8 pm, and November 22 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, Ted Sperling leads the 120–member MasterVoices Chorus, Orchestra and four-time Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza, platinum recording artist Lizzy McAlpine, as well as other cast members to be announced in the premiere of a revised version of Oscar and Tony Award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch’s musical Sweet Smell of Success. Tony Award winner John Guare (bookwriter) and Tony Award nominee Craig Carnelia (lyricist) are revising the show for MasterVoices’ production to fully realize their vision for the piece. The 2002 musical is based on the gripping 1958 film noir classic of the same name, starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, dramatizing the twisted relationship between J.J. Hunsecker, a powerful Manhattan gossip columnist and Sidney Falco, a struggling press agent. When the Broadway show opened, Clive Barnes in The New York Post proclaimed, “it is a must-see for anyone interested in musical theater. Diamond-tough and in most ways just as brilliant.”
Sperling said of the legend, “Marvin Hamlish regarded his music for Sweet Smell of Success to be on a par with that of A Chorus Line, and I wholeheartedly agree…this is a score that needs to be better known. John, Craig and I are keen to take a fresh look at their show set in the seductively sleazy showbiz underbelly of 1950s Manhattan and snapping with Marvin’s wonderful jazz-inspired songs.”
Sins and Grace at Alice Tully Hall’s Starr Theater at Lincoln Center
On March 23-24, 2026 at 7:30 pm, at Alice Tully Hall, Ted Sperling leads the MasterVoices Chorus, Orchestra and guest soloists in two performances of Sins and Grace, a concert combining Fauré’s exquisite Requiem in D minor, the best known of his larger works, and the world premiere of the song cycle, Seven: A Cycle of Sins, a MasterVoices commission for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra, by seven different composing teams. Commented Sperling, “The Fauré Requiem has been a cherished piece for me ever since I learned it in my youth. It takes a unique approach to the Requiem text, emphasizing the more heavenly aspects of the afterlife, and its original scoring for strings, horns, organ and harp lend it a truly magical texture. We’re delighted to present the work at Alice Tully Hall, the only major concert hall in Manhattan with an integrated pipe organ. To contrast the angelic aspect of the Fauré, we’ll be commissioning seven separate pieces to mirror the seven movements of the Fauré. Each will be inspired by one of the Deadly Sins (Greed, Sloth, Gluttony, Lust, Pride, Envy, and Wrath), taking a contemporary approach to the subjects and injecting them with humor and drama. The composers will come from both the concert and the theater worlds, tailoring their new work to our soloists, orchestra and chorus.”
On September 6-7, 2025, the MasterVoices Chorus sings in ARCH, an installation opera, by Kaleider, the UK-based production studio, at The Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn. The two free Down to Earth Festival performances are presented by CUNY Stages, The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center CUNY, in partnership with MasterVoices and Green-Wood.
A week later, September 13, 2025, MasterVoices will participate in Ivesiade, a performance in The Amph at Little Island, the award-winning public park located at Pier 55 in Hudson River Park. The program, marking MasterVoices’ debut at Little Island, is curated by and features pianists Jeremy Denk and Conor Hanick, and is centered around the music of Charles Ives. This eclectic performance uplifts Ives’ legacy, offering a rich portrait of a composer who defied convention, embraced contradiction, and laid the groundwork for generations of American music to come.
Details of MasterVoices’ 2025-26 season can be found at mastervoices.org and casting will be announced at a later date.
Sweet Smell of Success
Friday, November 21, 2025, 8 pm
Saturday, November 22, 2025, 2 pm and 7:30 pm
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall
Music by Marvin Hamlisch
Lyrics by Craig Carnelia
Book by John Guare
Based on the novella by Ernest Lehman and the MGM/United Artists motion picture with a screenplay by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman
Music orchestrated by William David Brohn
Dance arrangements by Ron Melrose
Directed and Conducted by Ted Sperling
Choreographed by Andrew Palermo
Scenic Design by Ryan Howell
Costume Design by Tracy Christensen
Sound Design by Scott Lehrer
MasterVoices Orchestra and Chorus
Raúl Esparza, playing the role of J.J. HUNSECKER
Lizzy McAlpine, playing the role of SUSAN
Presented by special arrangement with Concord Theatricals
Full cast and creative team to be announced at a later date.
Tickets, priced from $35, may be purchased online starting in September at jazz.org, at the Jazz at Lincoln Center box office, Broadway at 60th Street, or by calling 212-721-6500.
→ Continue reading at NYS Music
