MasterVoices: Strike Up the Band
$19-$156
- Shereen Ahmed, voice
- Phillip Attmore, voice
- Victoria Clark, voice
- John Ellison Conlee, voice
- Lissa deGuzman, voice
- Claybourne Elder, actor
- Christopher Fitzgerald, voice
- Bryce Pinkham, voice
- David Pittu, actor
- Ted Sperling, conductor
MasterVoices polishes another classic gem with Strike Up the Band, the little-known precursor to the Gershwins' Of Thee I Sing. This madcap 1920's satire on America's penchant for war features spies and star-crossed lovers. The lush Gershwin score, with songs such as "The Man I Love" and "I've Got a Crush On You," is brought to life by the full 100-voice MasterVoices Chorus and a cast under the direction of Tony Award winner Ted Sperling.
About MasterVoices
MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale) was founded in 1941 by legendary American choral conductor Robert Shaw. Under the artistic direction of Tony Award winner Ted Sperling since 2013, the group is known for its versatility and a repertoire that ranges from choral masterpieces and operas in concert to operettas and musical theater. Season concerts feature a volunteer chorus of 100+ members from all walks of life, alongside a diverse roster of world-class soloists from across the musical spectrum, including Julia Bullock, Dove Cameron, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Renée Fleming, John Holiday, Jennifer Holliday, Norm Lewis, Victoria Clark, and Kelli O'Hara. Under Sperling's direction the group has created cross–disciplinary collaborations with such diverse creative minds as Vogue Editor-at-Large Hamish Bowles, fashion designer Zac Posen, Silk Road visual artist Kevork Mourad, illustrator Manik Choksi, stage designer Doug Fitch, and choreographers Doug Varone and Andrew Palermo. Roger Rees was the group's Artistic Associate from 2003–2015, and in 2021 the group received a New York Emmy Award nomination and a Drama League Award nomination for its multi-genre digital concert production, Myths and Hymns.
Known for its presentation of lesser-known artistic treasures such as Scott Joplin's Treemonisha, and Tchaikovsky's Maid of Orleans, the group has received recent accolades for productions of rarely-heard works such as the 2018-19 season's Lady in the Dark by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland, the Gershwins' Let 'Em Eat Cake, and Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents’s Anyone Can Whistle. They also commission and premiere new works; recent examples include choral works by Ricky Ian Gordon, Marisa Michelson, Tariq Al-Sabir, and Randall Eng.
As one of the country's first interracial and interfaith choruses, MasterVoices (as The Collegiate Chorale) performed at the opening of the United Nations and has sung and recorded under the batons of esteemed conductors including Serge Koussevitzky, Arturo Toscanini, and Leonard Bernstein, among others. It has been engaged by top-tier orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic, and has appeared at the Verbier and Salzburg Festivals.
About Shereen Ahmed, voice
About Victoria Clark, voice
About Lissa deGuzman, voice
About Christopher Fitzgerald, voice
https://playbill.com/person/christopher-fitzgerald-vault-0000073314
About David Pittu, actor
About Ted Sperling, conductor
Ted Sperling is a multi-faceted artist; director, music director, conductor, orchestrator, singer, pianist, violinist and violist. He is the Artistic Director of MasterVoices and Music Director of the recent Broadway productions of My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof and The King and I, all currently touring nationally and internationally. He has directed the premiere productions of The Other Josh Cohen, Red Eye of Love, Striking 12 and See What I Wanna See, all off-Broadway.
A Tony Award winner for his orchestrations of The Light in the Piazza, Mr. Sperling is known for his work across many genres, including opera, oratorio, musical theater, symphony and pops. His video interpretation of Adam Guettel’s Myths and Hymns can be viewed on the PBS channel, AllArts, where you can also view his concert of Carole King songs. He earned rapturous reviews for his production of Lady in the Dark with MasterVoices at NY City Center as well as for recent performances of Let ‘Em Eat Cake and Anyone Can Whistle at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Sperling appeared as Steve Allen in the final episode of Season Two of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and as bandleader Wallace Hartley in the original Broadway musical, Titanic.
Artists that Mr. Sperling has directed and conducted include Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Isabel Leonard, Stephanie Blythe, Nathan Gunn, Rufus Wainwright, Glenn Close, Eric Idle, Kevin Kline, Martin Short, Deborah Voigt, Kelli O’Hara, Victoria Clark, Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel, Michael Bublé, Randy Newman, Bryn Terfel, Anthony Roth Constanzo, Anne Hathaway, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jeremy Jordan, Santino Fontana, Dove Cameron, Jennifer Holliday, Cheyenne Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Sutton Foster, and Liza Minelli.
http://www.tedsperling.net