Phillip Boykin, Douglas Hodge, Montego Glover, Betsy Wolfe and More Set for MasterVoices' Fall 2015 Gala Tonight

MasterVoices will hold its Fall Gala and Concert, featuring the THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE; OR, THE SLAVE OF DUTY at Le Parker Meridian and the New York City Center tonight, October 15, 2015. The event will begin at 5:00pm with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, followed by a seated dinner at 6:00pm at Le Parker Meridian at 119 W. 56th Street - a block away from New York City Center where the performance will commence at 8pm.

The evening will launch the MasterVoices' 2015-2016 Season and will mark the inauguration of a thrilling new MasterVoices-City Center partnership. Dress is festive. Gala tickets are $1,000 - $2,500, and tables are$10,000 - $25,000. Special "Next Gen" tickets are available for $500 for patrons ages 18-45. For more information, contact Jennifer Collins at 646.202.9623 or jcollins@mastervoices.org.

The event is led by Co-Chairs Susan Baker and Michael Lynch, Antonia and George Grumbach, Adèle and John Talty, and Susan and Kenneth Wallach.

Following the success of our 2012 Mikado at Carnegie Hall, MasterVoices' semi-staged presentation of The Pirates of Penzance will feature a cast of stars from the Broadway and opera worlds, along with Orchestra of St. Luke's performing Arthur Sullivan's original orchestrations under the direction of Artistic Director Ted Sperling.

The concert will feature Metropolitan Opera star Deborah Voigt, Hunter Parrish ("Weeds"; Godspell), Phillip Boykin (Tony Award Nominee, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess), Douglas Hodge (Tony Award Winner, La Cages aux Folles; Showtime's "Penny Dreadful"), Julia Udine (The Phantom of the Opera), Montego Glover (Tony Award Nominee, Memphis), and Betsy Wolfe (The Last Five Years). Choreography/Associate Direction by Gustavo Zajac, Scenic Design by David Korins, Lighting Design by Frances Aronson, Costume Consulting by Tracy Christensen and Sound Design by Scott Lehrer.

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE performances will be dedicated in loving memory to MasterVoices' Artistic Associate Roger Rees. Roger was a longtime colleague and friend, a relationship that began with his role as Narrator of Weber's Oberon under Maestro Bass at Carnegie Hall in 2002. That first project grew into a collaboration that explored the interplay of words and music in projects directed by Mr. Rees including "An Evening of Kurt Weill" with Bebe Neuwirth, Scott Joplin's Treemonisha, Bernstein and Lerner's A White House Cantata and Weill's The Firebrand of Florence among others. Mr. Rees was ever ready to lend his talents as auctioneer, actor and author whenever called upon. He was a Renaissance man with a heart of gold and will be sorely missed. We were privileged to know him and are honored to remember him with this dedication.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Deborah Voigt, a Chicago native raised in southern California, is recognized as one of the world's most versatile singers and one of music's most endearing personalities. Having made her name as a leading dramatic soprano, especially in the operas of Wagner, Strauss, and others, she is also an active recitalist and performer of Broadway standards and popular songs. Voigt has an extensive discography, and her master classes are enthusiastically received. She appears regularly - as both performer and host - in the Met's Live in HD series, which is transmitted live to movie theaters around the world. Honored in the media with a CBS 60 Minutes profile, features in People and VanityFair, spotlights in More and O - the Oprah Magazine, and appearances on Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN, PBS, and the nationwide telecast of the MACY*S Thanksgiving Day Parade and July 4fireworks celebration,Voigt has become America's most visible and beloved diva. Her one-woman show returns in the 2015-16 season. Developed with playwright Terrence McNally and director Francesca Zambello at the famed MacDowell Colony, Voigt Lessons weaves 18 songs and arias of special personal significance to Voigt into a vivid and often moving narration of the story of her life and career. Her memoir, Call Me Debbie: True Confessions of a Down-to-Earth Diva, was published by HarperCollins in 2015 and will be released in paperback in January 2016.
Fresh out of On The Town, Phillip Boykin was the 2012 Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award-nominee for his work in Porgy and Bess and the winner of the 2012 Theatre World Award and the IRNE Award. He has toured throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, Russia and North America. His performances include the roles of Joe in the national tour of Show Boat, The Man in Crowns, Ken in Ain't Misbehavin', Crown/Jake in Porgy and Bess the opera, Fred in Smokey Joe's Café and Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar and in Jesus Christ Superstar Gospel. He was featured in the anniversary performance of Ragtime at Lincoln Center and has performed at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center. He was Big Hand in the movie "Freedom" starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and the driver in "Top Five" starring Chris Rock. Phillip is a native of Greenville, SC who now resides in New Jersey. He's the founder and director of NYGospel Brothers. A graduate of the Hartt School of Music, he also studied Jazz and Vocal Performance at Howard University and UNCSA. For more information, or to purchase his CD (available on iTunes) or DVD, visit www.phillipboykin.com.

English actor Douglas Hodge is a five times Olivier-nominated actor/director, who has worked extensively in film and on television. He is an acclaimed classical actor working at the National Theatre, the RSC, Shakespeare's Globe, the Royal Court Theatre, and in the West End and on Broadway where he has won the Tony, the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards. He originated the role of Willy Wonka in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane directed by Sam Mendes, and the role of Bartholomew Rusk in John Logan's Showtime series, Penny Dreadful. Awards include 2014 Best Actor in a Musical for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (nomination), 2012 Best Actor for Inadmissible Evidence (nomination), 2009 Best Actor in a Musical for La Cage Aux Folles (winner) and 2006 Best Actor in a Musical for Guys And Dolls (nomination). He was also nominated for Best Actor in the 2005 Evening Standard Awards for his role in Dumbshow at The Royal Court. Douglas starred as Albin in the Broadway production of La Cage Aux Folles for which his performance won him a Tony Award (Best Actor), a Drama Desk Award (Best Actor) and an Outer Critics Award (Best Actor). He originally played the role in London in 2008 at The Menier Chocolate Factory and then at The Playhouse Theatre in the West End. For ten years he worked almost exclusively with Harold Pinter as both actor and director. He directed The Dumb Waiter and all of Harold Pinter's sketches for Oxford Playhouse and a short film of Victoria Station. As an actor he appeared in the world premiere of Moonlight, Betrayal, No Mans Land, The Lover, The Collection and The Trial, including numerous radio performances. He has parallel careers as a writer, director and composer, most recently directing Torch Song Trilogy at the Menier Chocolate Factory. He was Associate Director at the Donmar Theatre directing Dimetos,Absurdia and running numerous readings and workshops for new and classic work. He has released two albums of his own compositions 'Cowley Road Songs' and 'Nightbus', and he won the Stiles and Drewe 2012 Best New Song Award for his song 'Powercut' from the musical he co-wrote with Aschlin Ditta called Meantime.

One of Hollywood's most sought-after and vibrant young talents, Hunter Parrish is best known for his portrayal of angst-ridden Silas Botwin on Showtime's critically acclaimed series, Weeds. For eight seasons, he starred opposite Mary Louise Parker, Justin Kirk, and Kevin Nealon. Parrish will next appear in Marc Forster's Amazon drama series, Hand of God, opposite Ron Perlman. Parrish recently starred in the independent film, Still Alice, opposite Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, and Kate Bosworth. The film, directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, tells the story of a professor who discovers she's suffering from an early onset of Alzheimer's disease. Parrish will next appear in the independent feature The Runaround, opposite Analeigh Tipton and Taran Killam. Also a star on Broadway, Parrish starred as Jesus Christ in the revival of Stephen Schwartz's Godspell, directed by Daniel Goldstein. Parrish made his Broadway debut to critical acclaim as Melchior, the young, smart and sexy hero in the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening, based on Frank Wedekind's controversial 19th-century play, with music by Duncan Sheik; book and lyrics by Steven Sater. Parrish released his first solo EP, Guessing Games, in June 2012. Last year, Parrish starred as Claude in the Hollywood Bowl's production of Hair, the American Tribal Love-Rock musical, which won the Tony and Drama Desk Award for best revival of a musical in 2009. He starred opposite Kristen Bell as Sheila, and the show was directed and choreographed by Adam Shankman. Parrish starred in director Nancy Meyers' 2009 hit, It's Complicated, opposite Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin. Parrish's other film credits include Burr Steers' 17 Again; Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney's Paper Man; Richard La Gravenese's Freedom Writers and Barry Sonnenfeld's RV. This past season, Parrish recurred on television in the hit FOX drama, The Following. Parrish also recurred in a pivotal role as Jeffrey Grant, the unhinged college student who murdered Will Gardner (Josh Charles) on CBS' acclaimed drama, The Good Wife.

Julia Udine is honored to make her City Center debut with MasterVoices and this incredible cast. She recently made her Broadway debut as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera. Prior to that she played Christine in the new production of Phantom, currently touring the U.S. Theater credits include Jack's Back (Jenny) TV: Law and Order: SVU, All My Children.

David Garrison returns to the role of the Police Sergeant, thirty-three years after playing it on Broadway in the award-winning NY Shakespeare Festival revival. Best known as Steve Rhoades on television's Married With Children, his other Broadway credits include Wicked (Carbonell Award), A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (Tony nomination), Titanic, Torch Song Trilogy, Bells Are Ringing, A History of the American Film,and The Visit. Off-Broadway, he co-starred in I Do! I Do! (Drama Desk nomination), and was featured in Middletown, New Jerusalem, It's Only a Play, By The Way Meet Vera Stark, and Silence! The Musical. He received a Helen Hayes Award for Merrily We Roll Along at Arena Stage, and most recently played Voltaire/Dr. Pangloss in Candide at the Glimmerglass Festival. His many television credits include 30 Rock, The Good Wife, Law and Order, The West Wing, The Practice, NYPD Blue, Everybody Loves Raymond, MurphyBrown, Murder She Wrote, and the PBS Great Performances presentations of On the Town with the London Symphony, and IraGershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall.

Betsy Wolfe was last seen at the La Jolla Playhouse starring in the new American Musical Up Here by Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen), directed by Alex Timbers. She was last seen on Broadway starring in Woody Allen's adaptation of Bullets over Broadway as "Ellen," under the direction of Susan Stroman. Ms. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Douglas Carter Bean's adaptation of Die Fledermaus and returns to the Met this winter to reprise her role. She starred in the Off-Broadway Revival of The Last Five Years at Second Stage Theatre and the Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Prior to that she played Beth in Merrily We Roll Along at Encore and created the role of Mary Ann Singleton in ACT's world premiere of Tales of the City, a musical based on the Armistead Maupin novels. Other Broadway credits include Everyday Rapture, 110 in the Shade and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She has been a guest artist for over 35 Symphony, Pops and Philharmonic Orchestras across the U.S. and internationally, including the NY Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony. Her concert debut at Carnegie Hall was with the Cincinnati Pops under Maestro Erich Kunzel. Ms. Wolfe was a guest soloist for the New York City Ballet where she performed at Lincoln Center and at The Coliseum in London. Recordings include Bullets over Broadway, The Last Five Years, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Stage Door Canteen, 35MM and Merrily We Roll Along. She holds a BFA in musical theatre from Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (CCM). Ms. Wolfe can also be seen in the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Ms. Wolfe will headline the National Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Steven Reineke at The Kennedy Center on February 26 and 27, 2016, and with the NY Pops Orchestra on March 11, 2016 at Carnegie Hall.

Montego Glover created the role of Felicia Farrell in the Broadway hit musical Memphis and received a Tony Award Nomination for Lead Actress in a Musical as well as a Drama League Nomination and won both the Outer Critics' Circle Award and the Drama Desk Award for her performance. Recently, Montego completed a successful run as Annie Shepard in the new musical comedy It Shoulda Been You, and currently she stars as Fantine in Les Miserables. Montego made her Broadway debut in The Color Purple in the roles of Celie & Nettie. Based in New York, Montego has been privileged to travel to a number of exciting theatre companies around the country including: La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Geffen Playhouse, The Huntington Theatre, and Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre. The productions have been as varied as the locations: Aida (4 productions in the role of Aida, IRNE Award-Best Actress in a Musical), Ragtime (2 productions in the role of Sarah), Dreamgirls (Lorrell), She Loves Me (Ms. Ritter), Oklahoma (Ado Annie), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Hermia), Westside Story (Anita), Jesus Christ Superstar (Mary Magadelene), and Once On This Island (TiMoune, Helen Hayes Award Nomination) among others. Montego has been a Guest Artist for the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Caramoor Music Festival, the Smith Center in Las Vegas, and most recently the Calgary Philharmonic, and Sun Valley Symphony Orchestra. On television Montego has appeared on Black Box, The Following, Hostages, Smash, Golden Boy, The Good Wife, White Collar, NYC 22, Law & Order, and Made In Jersey as well as several award winning programs for PBS including Memphis on Broadway. Montego enjoys a vibrant commercial career with campaigns for Nickelodeon, McDonald's, Chase, Verizon and most recently Samsung to name a few. She can be heard voicing characters for Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go and the gaming franchise for Star Wars. Montego has served on the Artists' Committee for the Kennedy Center Honors, and recently joined the community efforts of the New York Pops by becoming a PopsEd Ambassador. @montegoglover www.MontegoGlover.com

Zachary James created the role of Abraham Lincoln in the world premiere of Philip Glass' opera The Perfect American at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and for London's English National Opera and Australia's Opera Queensland. He created the role of Lurch in The Addams Family on Broadway, Hassinger in the Tony Award winning Broadway revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center, and sang Handel's Messiah in the 2007 Broadway play, Coram Boy. A winner of the 2009 Lotte Lenya Competition, Zach has been engaged by US opera companies including Opera Philadelphia, Opera Roanaoke, Shreveport Opera, Central City Opera, Ash Lawn Opera, Knoxville Opera, and has sung in concert with The New York Philharmonic, NYC Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra. Zach played Pasquale in The Most Happy Fella, Jo-Jo in Irma la Douce for City Center Encores. Upcoming: World Premiere of Breaking The Waves with Opera Philadelphia, World Premiere of Anatomy Theatre with L.A. Opera, The Mikado with Anchorage Opera, Sweeney Todd with Opera Roanoke.

Ted Sperling, one of today's leading musical artists and Artistic Director of MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale), is a director, music director, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, singer, pianist and violinist. Mr. Sperling won the 2005 Tony and Drama Desk Awards (with Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin) for his orchestrations of The Light in the Piazza, for which he was also music director. Other Broadway credits as music director/conductor/pianist include the Tony Award-winning revival of South Pacific and recent revival of Guys and Dolls, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Angels in America, My Favorite Year, Falsettos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, LES MISERABLES, Roza, and Sunday in the Park with George. Mr. Sperling was also an original cast member of the Broadway musical Titanic. Mr. Sperling has an active concert career, working with singers Audra McDonald, Victoria Clark, Patti LuPone, Kelli O'Hara, Nathan Gunn, Paulo Szot, and Deborah Voigt. Appointed the Artistic Director of MasterVoices in 2013, Mr. Sperling's projects with the ensemble have included concert performances of The Firebrand of Florence (Conductor, 2009), The Grapes of Wrath (Conductor, 2010), Knickerbocker Holiday (Director, 2011), Something Wonderful (A Broadway Evening with Deborah Voigt, Conductor/Director, 2011), The Mikado (Conductor/Director, 2012) and Song of Norway (Conductor/Director, 2013).

About Orchestra of St. Luke's - Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) is one of America's foremost and most versatile orchestras, collaborating with the world's greatest artists and performing approximately 70 concerts each year-including its Carnegie Hall Orchestra Series, Chamber Music Series at The Morgan Library & Museum and Brooklyn Museum, and summer residency at Caramoor Music Festival. OSL has commissioned more than 50 new works, including four this season; has given more than 170 world, U.S., and New York City premieres; and appears on more than 100 recordings, including four Grammy Award winners and seven releases on its own label, St. Luke's Collection. Pablo Heras-Casado, named 2014 Conductor of the Year by Musical America, is OSL's principal conductor.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this season, OSL began as a chamber ensemble based at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields in Greenwich Village. Today, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble consists of 21 virtuoso artists who perform a diverse repertoire and make up OSL's artistic core.

OSL owns and operates The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Midtown Manhattan, where it shares a building with the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The DiMenna Center is New York City's premier venue for rehearsal, recording, and learning, having quickly gained a reputation for its superb acoustics, state-of-the-art facilities, and affordability. Since opening in 2011, The DiMenna Center has welcomed more than 50,000 visitors, including more than 300 ensembles and artists such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, James Taylor, and Sting. OSL hosts hundreds of neighbors, families, and school children at its home each year for free community events.

Through its Community & Education programs, OSL has introduced audiences across New York City to live classical music. OSL brings free chamber concerts to the five boroughs; offers free, interactive events at The DiMenna Center; provides chamber music coaching for adults; and engages 10,000 public school students each year through its Free School Concerts. In 2013, OSL launched Youth Orchestra of St. Luke's (YOSL), an intensive in- and after-school instrumental coaching program emphasizing musical excellence and social development, in partnership with Police Athletic League (PAL) and public schools in the Clinton / Hudson Yards neighborhood. For more information, visit OSLmusic.org.

MasterVoices (Formerly The Collegiate Chorale) 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 MasterVoices 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 at Carnegie Hall; David Lang's battle hymns with members of the Veteran Artist Program and the Manhattan Girls Chorus at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum; Eric Idle in Not The Messiah(He's a Very Naughty Boy) at Carnegie Hall; and the U.S. Premiere of Kurt Weill's The Road of Promise featuring Anthony Dean Griffey, Mark Delavan and Ron Rifkin with Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall. For more information, visit mastervoices.org. Connect with MasterVoices on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@mastervoicesny).