AN INTERVIEW WITH HANDEL AND HAYDN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CEO
The Society's new Executive Director and CEO ,Marie-Hélène Bernard, sits down with WGBH's Brian Bell to discuss her life, career, and Handel and Haydn's future.

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(Also available as an MP3)

HANDEL AND HAYDN GOES TO THE “PROMS”
The Society made its debut prestigious BBC Proms Festival this past summer at Royal Albert Hall in London. The festival originated in 1895 and brings some of the world's most acclaimed orchestras and performers to London from July to September. Handel and Haydn was thrilled to take part in this year's festival with a performance of Haydn's The Seasons conducted by Sir Roger Norrington on Monday, July 23 which was be broadcast on BBC FOUR.

Read more about the trip in our July, 2007 Newsletter.

HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY ANNOUNCES NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Handel and Haydn Society, America's oldest continuously performing arts organization, announced today the appointment of Marie-Hélène Bernard as its new Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer(CEO). Ms. Bernard, who is currently President and CEO of the Canton (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra, succeeds Mary Deissler, who has led Handel and Haydn for twenty-five years. Ms. Bernard joined the Society on April 2, 2007.

Ms. Bernard was selected after a five-month international search of candidates from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. "Marie-Hélène Bernard was the unanimous choice of the Society's Board," states Todd Estabrook, Chair of the Handel and Haydn Society Board of Governors. "Marie-Hélène comes to us as a visionary with extensive business and management skills and a broad knowledge and great passion for the music Handel and Haydn performs. We are confident that Marie-Hélène will bring us to new levels of excellence as we approach our 200th anniversary in 2015."

HANDEL AND HAYDN MAKES ITS CONTINENTAL DEBUT!
It took 191 years, but Handel and Haydn Society made its Continental debut Saturday, September 9, 2006. In 1815, the Society's founders decided on the two composers representing the best of the old (Handel) and the new (Haydn). In 2006, there could not have been a more spectacular venue or appropriate presenter than the Haydn Festival at the Esterhazy Palace, where Haydn lived and worked for nearly 40 years.

Dr. Walter Reicher, the visionary director of the Festival for the past 18 years, invited Handel and Haydn Society two years ago. He develops a theme for each year, and 2006 was Handel and Haydn, making the Society a perfect match. The opportunity to perform in the grand Haydnsaal, where Haydn first performed many of his important works, was a privilege. Acoustics were superb: the hall is a classic shoebox shape, after which Symphony Hall was modeled. The internationally renowned conductor Harry Christophers led the sold-out concert, which was warmly received with prolonged applause.