(Photo credit: Rue Sakayama) The Handel and Haydn Society has appointed Lecolion Washington, Jr. as its next Philip and Marjorie Gerdine President and CEO, effective August 1, 2026. He succeeds David Snead, who retired in May 2025. Washington currently serves as Executive Director of the Community Music Center of Boston, where over nine years he oversaw 200 percent growth in {…}
The Handel and Haydn Society will make its Carnegie Hall debut on May 14, 2026. The program, centering on Bach and Telemann, features soprano Robin Johannsen, countertenor Christopher Lowrey, tenor Guy Cutting, and bass-baritone Dingle Yardell joined by the H+H Orchestra performing on period instruments. The 211-year-old Boston ensemble will be led by Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen. Following the Carnegie Hall {…}
The Handel and Haydn Society (H + H) has announced its 2026-27 season. Here are the vocal performances: Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen conducts Händel’s “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato” with the H+H Orchestra and Chorus. The cast includes soprano Joélle Harvey. Massachusetts Poet Laureate Regie Gibson joins as speaker. Performance Dates: Oct. 2 & 4, 2026 Conductor Laureate Harry {…}
Say whatever you want — to me, the story of David and Jonathan is the most beautiful queer love story ever told. Last spring, the Handel and Haydn Society celebrated queerness, but only this fall did they actually perform a work that — at least to me — unapologetically embraced queerness: Händel’s “Saul.” The result was satisfying in a different {…}
ChamberQUEER and the Handel and Haydn Society team up to present “BaroQUEER: Historically Informed.” The concert featuring music by composers ranging from George Frideric Handel and Jean-Baptiste Lully to Julius Eastman and Caroline Shaw. Performers include soprano Cassandra Extavour, countertenors Reginald Mobley and Doug Dodson, tenor Gregório Taniguchi, and baritones Brian Mummert and Dana Whiteside. The program celebrates queer perspectives {…}
Sometimes it is hard to understand what was going on in the mind of an orchestral manager booking a concert. The last Handel and Haydn Society concert—despite its many musical merits—was an enigma, an afternoon full of conglomerate causes. We all gathered for the sake of Haydn’s “Spring” (from his oratorio “The Seasons”) and Beethoven’s “Mass in C Major.” When {…}
The Handel and Haydn Society is set to have a new leader at the helm for the first time in nearly a decade as it was announced that President and CEO David Snead is set to retire. Snead was named by Musical America as one of the Top 30 Professionals of the Year back in 2021, a distinction to go {…}
Handel and Haydn Society will present “Love, Handel” on Feb. 7 and 9, 2025 at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. The showcase will be headlined by soprano Joélle Harvey, who joins the ensemble and artistic director Jonathan Cohen in a program that includes two secular cantatas as well as Händel’s opus 6 concertos. Finally, there will be performances of {…}
Handel and Haydn Society is set to present “Crossing the Deep” on Jan. 17 and 19, 2025. The showcase, which takes place at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, was created in 2023 by Conductor Dr. Anthony Trecek-King and countertenor Reginald Mobley as a response to the revelation that Handel had owned stock in companies involved the in slave trade. {…}
Handel and Haydn Society is set to present “Baroque Christmas” on Dec. 19 and 22, 2024. The showcase will be headlined by Ruben Valenzuela, the Founder and Artistic Director of Bach Collegium San Diego for a program of Bach Cantatas and Antonio de Salazar’s “Conceptio Gloriosae,” Francisco Lopez Capillas’ “Canticum Beatae Mariae Virginis Magnificat,” and Juan de Araujo’s “Ay andar, {…}
The Handel and Haydn Society (H+H) will present Händel’s ‘Messiah’ at Symphony Hall starting on November 29, 2024. The production, which will run through Dec. 1 will feature period instruments and soloists including soprano Jeanine De Bique, countertenor Reginald Mobley, tenor Nicholas Phan, and baritone Sumner Thompson. The company also revealed the introduction of “CitySing,” a new initiative conceived by {…}