The Masterwork Chorus is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to enriching
and supporting the cultural life of the community through professional-level
choral performances and the promotion of music education.

Founded in 1955 in Morris County, New Jersey, the chorus is known for the quality
of its music performances of both the masterworks as well as seldom performed,
but beautiful, choral selections.

In October 1955, just two scant months after its first rehearsal, the Chorus sang
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra at
Newark’s Symphony Hall. The Chorus’s second concert was in January 1956
and celebrated the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s birth with a performance of
Mozart’s Requiem and excerpts from The Magic Flute.

David Randolph was The Masterwork Chorus’s founding Music Director and
conducted the chorus until his retirement from Masterwork in 1992.
Under David Randolph, the chorus performed an extensive list of choral
masterpieces in a variety of sites, including a performance showcasing
New Jersey composers at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C.

The Masterwork Chorus is well known for its many fine performances of Handel’s Messiah,
now a beloved holiday tradition in the New York area. The chorus gave its first performance
of Messiah in December 1957 in Morristown, NJ. Four years later, the chorus performed
the oratorio for the first time at Carnegie Hall. Since then, Masterwork has given multiple
performances of Messiah each December at Carnegie Hall and in other venues
throughout the metropolitan/northern NJ area.

Following David Randoph’s retirement in 1992, David Briskin served as Music Director
for the next seven years. Mr. Briskin expanded the chorus’s choral offerings beyond
traditional classical works. Under his baton, Masterwork performed a concert of
Great Opera Choruses for its 40th anniversary, and a semi-staged version of
Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance.

Andrew Megill has been Masterwork’s Music Director and conductor since 2000.
Dr. Megill has led the chorus in re-examining beautiful masterpieces like Brahms’
A German Requiem in April 2007 as well as in exploring more contemporary and
challenging works to critical acclaim. The chorus performed Stephen Paulus’s
Visions from Hildegard (Part III) and Apparebit Repentina Dies by Paul Hindemith,
together with American spirituals in an April 2006 program. Both Stephen Paulus
and the late Lukas Foss attended chorus rehearsals prior to the concerts featuring their works.

Masterwork’s outreach programs include performances at community events, a ReachOut
program providing entertainment to senior citizens in assisted living facilities and patients
in hospitals, rehabilitation centers and nursing facilities, as well as educational programs
including pre-concert lectures, web-based programming and student outreach programs.

The Masterwork Chorus is committed to collaborative efforts in the arts community. In
2008, Masterwork was instrumental in beginning the New Jersey Choral Consortium,
an alliance of New Jersey choirs and choruses that work together to help each other and
advance choral music. Likewise, in June 2010, Masterwork joined forces with
MidAmerica Productions and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma to present Poulenc’s Gloria.