The Voice of Whitney

Experience Whitney Houston's voice as Never-Before-Heard

With the Pops of Color Symphonic Orchestra,
Conducted by Sean Mayes

An Immersive Visual Experience on the Town Hall Stage Where Whitney Debuted in 1978

On February 15, 1978, Whitney Houston joined her mother, the legendary Cissy Houston to perform at The Town Hall in New York City, where the young vocalist made her debut performance at the historic concert hall singing the popular show tune, “Tomorrow” from the popular Broadway musical, Annie. Next year marks the 47^th anniversary of her Town Hall debut performance and the 40^th anniversary of the release of her groundbreaking self-titled debut album, Whitney Houston. 

On Saturday, February 15, 2025, The Town Hall will celebrate Houston and the premiere of The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration, conducted by internationally renowned conductor and music director Sean Mayes, featuring Pops of Color, who will be making their world premiere. Pops of Color is New York City’s first Pops orchestra composed exclusively of musicians of color, performing the music of musical icons of color. This concert series follows the successful, sold-out  premieres at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Philharmonic, conducted by Sean Mayes (August 30^th) and The Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Steven Reineke (November 8^th). 

Presented by The Town Hall in collaboration with Park Avenue Artists, The Estate of Whitney E. Houston, and Primary Wave Music, The Voice Of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration features the original master and remastered recordings of Whitney’s vocals set to new arrangements in a unique and one-of-a-kind reinterpretation of her classic hit songs including “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me),” “I Will Always Love You” “Higher Love,” and countless other of her classics and landmark songs, accompanied by never-before-seen video footage and interviews, along with some of her memorable performances and more. This concert event will include two new arrangements commissioned specifically for The Town Hall program.

From the 1985 release of Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut album, she is the only artist to date, to chart seven consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits (“Saving All My Love For You,” “How Will I Know,” “Greatest Love Of All,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” “So Emotional,” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”); she’s the first female artist to enter the Billboard 200 album chart at No. 1. She is also the first African American recording artist to receive three RIAA Diamond-certified albums. For more information on Whitney Houston, click here.
Hailing from Toronto and based in New York City, Sean Mayes enjoys a varied career internationally as a conductor, music supervisor, orchestrator and composer between Broadway, theater, opera, classical, and Pops worlds. He is the Incoming Worldwide Music Supervisor of Disney’s THE LION KING and Music Supervisor and Co-Orchestrator for the Broadway bound ALI: The Musical, based on the life of Muhammad Ali, composed by conductor Teddy Abrams and hip-hop music legend Q-Tip. His new opera, Aportia Chryptych: A Black Opera for Portia White made its world premiere with the Canadian Opera Company in June 2024. For more information on Sean Mayes, click here.