Handel And Haydn Society Opens 210th Season With Mozart Requiem

Handel and Haydn Society Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen and the H+H Orchestra and Chorus will return to Boston's Symphony Hall on Friday, September 27 and Sunday, September 29 to open H+H's 210th consecutive season, a double feature of two moving masterpieces performed on period instruments that the composers wrote for. The concert begins with an H+H premiere, the Requiem of Michael Haydn (brother of H+H namesake Franz Joseph Haydn). The featured work is Mozart's beloved Requiem, his final composition and one of the hallmarks of his musical legacy. 

Throughout history many composers have set requiem texts used for funeral services. The H+H Orchestra and Chorus trace the influence of Michael Haydn's Requiem, a work that Mozart performed as a young musician in Salzburg, on Mozart's main event. Left unfinished at the time of his death, Mozart's setting of the funeral Mass was completed by three of his students, and later by other musicologists as new information became available. For the first time in 30 years, H+H performs the completion by Robert D. Levin, a Mozart scholar, composer, and former professor of music at Harvard University. Levin is well known to Boston audiences for his many performances with H+H through the years. 

“Mozart's Requiem has an intriguing history made all the more poignant for the fact Mozart began working on it as he knew his health was failing,” said Handel and Haydn Society Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen. “The Requiem was completed by contemporaries of Mozart using various sketches he left behind, although the style of the orchestration in these completions, in my opinion, often feels ‘too thick' with uncharacteristic orchestral doublings of the vocal lines. Robert Levin with great respect and sensitivity addressed these issues, brought clarity and his expert wealth of knowledge of Mozart's compositional style to his own completion. It's an honor to perform this extraordinary version to open H+H's season.” 

To perform this heartfelt music, H+H welcomes soprano Lucy Crowe back to the Symphony Hall stage, and three soloists making an H+H debut: mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor, tenor Duke Kim, and bass-baritone Brandon Cedel. 

A prolific recitalist and in-demand soloist with opera companies and orchestras throughout the world, soprano Lucy Crowe performed Brahms' Requiem with H+H in April 2024. Other recent highlights include performances with the English National Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, and the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Lauded for her “strong presence” and “intriguing depth,” Glaswegian mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor is in demand across Europe's concert platforms. She has performed in title roles with Deutsche Oper Berlin and Oper Frankfurt.

Tenor Duke Kim is a graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera and the 2021 Grand Finals Winner of The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. He has performed extensively in North and South America and Europe including with the Washington National Opera, Teatro Colón, and Florentine Opera. 

Bass-baritone Brandon Cedel is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and is currently an Ensemble member of Oper Frankfurt. In addition to performing in multiple new productions with Oper Frankfurt, highlights of Mr. Cedel's recent seasons include performances with Boston Lyric Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, and his Kennedy Center debut recital with the Vocal Arts Society in Washington, D.C.

“Mozart's Requiem is widely acknowledged as one of the most powerful and moving masterpieces ever composed," said David Snead, Philip and Marjorie Gerdine President and CEO of the Handel and Haydn Society. “I am thrilled to experience this work  paired with H+H's first-ever performances of the Requiem by Michael Haydn, our namesake's brother. Hearing these two pieces side-by-side will lend a fresh perspective on Mozart's Requiem, even among those who know it well.”

Forty-five minutes prior to each performance all guests are welcome to attend “Musically Speaking” in Higginson Hall. Hosted by Teresa Neff, Ph.D., the Handel and Haydn Society's Christopher Hogwood Historically Informed Performance Fellow, “Musically Speaking” provides background information and a lively discussion about the music and composers on the program. In addition, guests will enjoy a period instrument demonstration in the main corridor off the Massachusetts Ave. entrance on Friday from 7:00–7:15pm and Sunday from 2:30–2:45pm.

The Handel and Haydn Society presents MOZART REQUIEM at Symphony Hall, Friday, September 27 at 7:30pm and Sunday, September 29 at 3:00pm. Individual tickets and subscription packages are still available for purchase by calling 617.262.1815 or visiting handelandhaydn.org.

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