The Handel and Haydn Society to Continue Bicentennial Celebrations with 2015–16 Season

The Handel and Haydn Society (H+H) and Artistic Director Harry Christophers are pleased to announce its 2015-2016 Season-H+H's 201st-featuring the Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus performing works from the Baroque and Classical eras. H+H will continue to observe the anniversary of its 1815 founding with repertoire significant to its history. The 2015-2016 Season will also present frequent guests, including conductors Richard Egarr and Laurence Cummings and fortepianist Robert Levin, as well as emerging talents making long-awaited debuts.

"This coming season, we continue our Bicentennial celebration that has brought us so much enjoyment and pride," says Artistic Director Harry Christophers. "We remain fully committed to our dual missions of staying true to the past and to the present, particularly through the introduction of this enriching art form to a younger generation. It will also be my great honor to collaborate further with the extraordinarily talented musicians who make up this historic yet venerable ensemble."

As the oldest continuously performing arts organization in the US, the Handel and Haydn Society continues to flourish under the leadership of Harry Christophers who will enter his seventh season as artistic director. Among the significant musical projects that Christophers will lead in 2015-2016 are Mozart's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, an all-Haydn orchestral program, Bach's St. John Passion, and-an H+H first- Handel's Saul.

"Handel never ceases to amaze me and I am delighted to bring this exceptional oratorio to H+H for the first time in its 200-year history," says Christophers who will conduct five of next season's nine subscription programs.

Guest conductor Richard Egarr will return for two programs (Baroque Masters and All Beethoven). The versatile harpsichordist and conductor Laurence Cummings will lead Bach Christmas, which features three holiday cantatas, including the popular Sleepers Awake.

"H+H is thrilled to present to our patrons and the city of Boston some of the world's greatest Baroque and Classical works with the finest interpreters," says Executive Director and CEO Marie-Hélène Bernard. "Through the 200th anniversary celebrations, our community is coming to better understand Boston's musical legacy in America and the place that H+H holds in the artistic and educational landscape of our city. We are grateful to our loyal audience for their unwavering support as we continue our Bicentennial celebrations."

2015-2016 Season Highlights

Just as H+H opened the Bicentennial Season with H+H's Baroque namesake, Handel, Harry Christophers will usher in the 2015-2016 Season with the Classical half, Haydn-specifically, Haydn's Symphony No. 99. Joining the program is one of the towering works of the Classical era, the Mozart Requiem, premiered in Boston by H+H in 1857. Soloists making their H+H debuts are soprano Lauren Snouffer and mezzo-soprano Hannah Pedley. They will join tenor Robert Murray, bass-baritone Dashon Burton, and the Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus.

Later in October, keyboardist, conductor, and audience favorite Richard Egarr presents an audacious program of path-breaking Italian Baroque jewels for organ and chamber ensemble. Avant-garde in their time, these highly virtuosic, wild and spontaneous pieces ("the heavy metal of the early 17th century," says Egarr) receive a rare hearing. The Baroque Masters represented on the program include Castello, Fontana, Gabrieli, and Marini.

Late November and December bring two cherished and critically acclaimed H+H holiday traditions. Harry Christophers conducts the Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus and guest soloists in the 162nd annual performances of Handel's Messiah. Audiences will "rejoice greatly" with soprano Sophie Bevan, contralto Emily Marvosh, tenor James Gilchrist, and baritone Christopher Purves. Next season's Bach Christmas will consist exclusively of music by J.S. Bach, including his Cantatas 38, 133, and 140 (Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme). Laurence Cummings, artistic director of the London Handel Festival and the Göttingen International Handel Festival, leads the Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus.

In January 2016, H+H's inspirational concertmaster Aisslinn Nosky, Harry Christophers, and the Period Instrument Orchestra take up again their all-Haydn survey with the Violin Concerto in A Major, a masterpiece lost until 1949. Rounding out this concert (the third in a series of all-Haydn programs that began in 2013) are the Symphonies No. 8 (Le Soir) and 84. The performances will be recorded for release in fall 2016.

On February 13-15, Richard Egarr, music director of the Academy of Ancient Music, resumes H+H's survey of Beethoven symphonies, this time with the Symphony No. 6, Pastoral. The All-Beethoven theme continues with renowned fortepianist Robert Levin performing Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto.

According to his obituary, Bach composed five Passions but only two of these, the St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passionhave survived intact. Full of emotional intimacy and dramatic power, the St. John Passion is a musical monument that never fails to move the listener. "We have two very fine soloists to convey the core of that drama in the Evangelist, tenor Nicholas Mulroy and in Christus, bass-baritone Matthew Brook," says Christophers. Two emerging talents from the H+H Chorus, Sonja DuToit Tengblad and Emily Marvosh, will perform the soprano and alto arias respectively. The performances coincide with the Lenten season.

Few chamber works pieces influenced composers more than Beethoven's Septet. In early April, Concertmaster Aisslinn Nosky leads a special chamber program featuring H+H string principals and clarinetist Eric Hoeprich. Nosky and company will mix it up with some more of their favorite chamber works, including pieces by Mozart and Beethoven.

The season reaches a climax with a masterpiece that H+H has never completely performed during its 200-year history: Handel's grand and glorious 1739 oratorio Saul. Counted as one of today's finest Handel interpreters, Christophers leads the Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus and an exemplary cast, led by acclaimed baritone Jonathan Best in the title role.

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