Handel and Haydn Society Opens Bicentennial Season This Weekend

The Handel and Haydn Society (H+H), led by Artistic Director Harry Christophers, opens the 2014-2015 Bicentennial Season on October 10 and 12 with the joyous program, Baroque Fireworks! H+H turns 200. The celebration continues with performances of historically significant works that H+H introduced to American audiences in the 19th century (Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and Haydn's Creation). The Bicentennial Season culminates in the spring and summer with an interactive exhibit at the Boston Public Library exploring H+H's history, a world premiere work by prominent American composer Gabriela Lena Frank, and a free outdoor performance of Beethoven's epic Ninth Symphony ("Ode to Joy").

Harry Christophers promises the Baroque Fireworks season opener to be "quite the occasion," brimming with virtuoso playing and popular choral and orchestral selections, including Handel's Coronation Anthem No. 1, the Bach motet Singet dem Herrn, and Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Also kickstarting the season are two publications-a Bicentennial commemorative magazine and Bicentennial book. Both retrospective and forward-looking, the 52-page magazine traces H+H's legendary past and lays out its creative vision for the Bicentennial Season. In the 250-page coffee-table book The Handel and Haydn Society: Bringing Music to Life for 200 Years, published by Godine Publishers, respected writers (Jan Swafford, Teresa M. Neff, Michael Broyles, Matthew Guerrieri, Steven Ledbetter, Donald Teeters, and Thomas Forrest Kelly) bring to life the rich history of this venerable organization. Co-edited by Neff and Swafford, the book is available in two editions: a standard copy ($40) and a numbered special edition ($200) bound in cloth, enclosed in a slipcase, and signed by Artistic Director Harry Christophers.

On October 14, in celebration of H+H's Bicentennial Season, a new live recording of Handel's Messiah will be released on the CORO label. Recorded at Boston's Symphony Hall in November and December 2013, the new CD is H+H's first recording of Handel's popular oratorio under Christophers' direction. Soprano Gillian Keith, countertenor Daniel Taylor, tenor Tom Randle, and baritone Sumner Thompson join the Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus in this inspired interpretation.

2014-2015 Bicentennial Season Highlights

Baroque Fireworks is a fitting introduction to this celebratory season by dramatically showcasing the acclaimed Handel and Haydn Society Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus, as well as Concertmaster Aisslinn Nosky (in the "Summer" concerto from Vivaldi's Four Seasons) and the Vocal Arts Program (VAP) Young Women's and Young Men's Choruses. The October 10 and 12 performances of Baroque Fireworks will include a special announcement about H+H's future, with other surprises in store.

Dazzling H+H Concertmaster Aisslinn Nosky leads the second subscription concert of the season: Vivaldi's demanding L'estro armonico. This all-Italian Baroque program (October 31 and November 2) features several of the Vivaldi concerti-works that heavily influenced Bach-alongside Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata, a work made famous by its fiendish difficulty and eerie legend of the Devil visiting the composer in a dream.

Late November and December bring three cherished H+H holiday traditions. Harry Christophers conducts the Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus and internationally acclaimed soloists in the 161st annual performance of Handel's Messiah (November 28, 29, and 30). Audiences will "rejoice greatly" with soprano Joélle Harvey, countertenor Tim Mead, tenor Allan Clayton, and bass Brindley Sherratt. On December 18 and 21, Back Bay Chorale Music Director Scott Allen Jarrett takes the Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus on a journey through Christmas past, from medieval plainchant to Bach's Cantata 40 and Cantata IV from the Christmas Oratorio. H+H also welcomes families to celebrate the holidays with the returning Holiday Sing. Guest conductor Lisa Graham, the H+H Chorus, and Vocal Arts Program youth choirs invite audiences to sing along with holiday favorites at Boston's historic Great Hall in Faneuil Hall on December 13.

In January 2015, Harry Christophers and Aisslinn Nosky continue their critically-praised survey of the orchestral music of Joseph Haydn. The sequel to 2012's Haydn in Paris, this January 23 and 25 program has Nosky taking the stage in Haydn's seldom-heard Violin Concerto in C Major. The concert also features two Haydn symphonies, including the dramatic Symphony No. 83 (La Poule).

On February 13-15, Richard Egarr, a frequent H+H guest conductor and music director of the Academy of Ancient Music, returns to continue his survey of the Beethoven symphonies, this time with the cheerful Symphony No. 1 in C Major. The program includes a performance of Mozart's Mass in C Minor, K. 139 (Waisenhaus Mass), written by the composer at age 13, and sung by soloists from H+H's own Chorus.

Egarr's program is followed by a succession of three of the greatest oratorios, performed over the course of just two months. Known in the 19th century as the Messiah of its day, Mendelssohn's Elijah is the first in this oratorio triptych. Led by former Artistic Director Grant Llewellyn, it features bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams in the title role of the Old Testament prophet (March 6 and 8). Next comes Bach's St. Matthew Passion, the one-of-a-kind masterwork that H+H last presented in 2012 to sold-out houses. This time, it will be performed during the final days of Lent with Christophers at the podium leading the Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus, distinguished soloists, and the Young Women's and Young Men's Choruses (March 27 and 29). Christophers will also lead performances of Haydn's Creation (May 1 and 3), a work inspired by the composer's trips to England where he first heard Handel's oratorios. Haydn's crowning choral masterpiece was premiered in the United States by H+H in 1819 and was last performed by the ensemble in 2001.

Boston is the site of the 2015 Chorus America National Conference (June 17- 20), a gathering of 500 choral music professionals from across the country. H+H will host an opening reception on Wednesday, June 17 and centerpiece performance at Symphony Hall on Thursday, June 18 that features Harry Christophers conducting the H+H Chorus and VAP youth choirs. This Symphony Hall concert-Handel and Haydn Sings- includes a new work for chorus and chamber orchestra by award-winning American composer Gabriela Lena Frank. Co-commissioned by H+H and the Library of Congress, the piece draws on Frank's Peruvian, Jewish, and Chinese heritage and Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Boston Hymn" as inspiration.

2014-2015 Ticket and Subscription Information

Tickets to Baroque Fireworks, along with other subscription concerts, are on sale at the Handel and Haydn Society Box Office by phone at 617 266 3605, online at www.handelandhaydn.org or in person at 9 Harcourt St. Boston (M-F 10am-6pm). Subscriptions to the 2014-2015 Bicentennial season are still available. Options include eleven-, nine- and six-concert series and an H2 Young Professionals package, as well as "Choose Your Own" packages.

Special Bicentennial Events

Exhibit at the Boston Central Library in Copley Square March 24 - September 7, 2015

H+H's extensive archives-containing a wealth of photos, concert program books, newspaper clippings, and more-date back to the early 1800s. These treasures, enhanced by interactive media, will be on view at the Boston Public Library for six months, and accessible worldwide in an online collection catalogue. Presented in partnership with the Freedom Trail Foundation and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the exhibit will explore H+H's 200-year history through the lens of classical music in America. Exhibit admission is free of charge.

Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA) Institute March 26 - 29, 2015

A MCANA institute will take place in Boston in conjunction with the Handel and Haydn Society's Bicentennial Season. Ten MCANA members will attend or participate in panel discussions with local scholars and musicians about historically informed performance and related topics. The Handel and Haydn Society will act as host, shepherding journalists through an exploration of H+H in times past and present, with direct access to H+H artists and staff, concerts, and archives at the Boston Public Library.

The Society Ball Gala Benefit at Symphony Hall April 18, 2015

H+H's benefactors and friends come together for a lavish gala fundraiser, featuring a performance by the Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus, led by Harry Christophers, with proceeds to benefit H+H's education and artistic initiatives. This Boston event of the year takes place at Symphony Hall, H+H's home since 1900, with a focus on celebrating H+H's important place in the history of Boston and the United States.

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 July 26, 2015

This free outdoor performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is H+H's gift to the City of Boston. The celebrated H+H orchestra and chorus is joined by other choral ensembles from around New England for this magnificent event, including the Harvard Summer Chorus (led by Andrew Clark) and H+H's VAP youth choirs. H+H's Ian Watson conducts.

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