Concerts feature a special performance by local high school singers of the inaugural H+H Youth Choruses Chorale Festival.
BOSTON | Welcome spring and celebrate Pride and community at Handel’s Water Music, presented by the Handel and Haydn Society at Symphony Hall on Friday, April 10 and Sunday, April 12. H+H Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen leads the period instrument ensemble in this dazzling program of Baroque works featuring the first suite of Handel’s Water Music. The program also includes selections from Lully’s comedy-ballet Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (in which the composer himself danced in the final act of the 1670 premiere given for King Louis XIV); Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 and three fugues from his late work, Art of the Fugue; and a suite of instrumental dances and overtures by Rameau to be performed by H+H for the first time.
To open both concerts, students from Framingham and Silver Lake Regional high schools who participated in the recent H+H Youth Choruses Chorale Festival will take the stage with the H+H Orchestra to perform the celebratory coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest by Handel. This special performance will be led by H+H Resident Conductor Anthony Trecek-King.
Handel’s Water Music was first performed in 1717 at a lavish Royal boating party hosted by King George I. Musicians played on a barge as it floated down the River Thames, delighting the crowds who lined the banks. Mirroring the festive, inclusive atmosphere of this work’s premiere, H+H celebrates Pride at these performances. Concertgoers will have an opportunity to take part in activities with local queer-missioned and allied organizations throughout the hall including the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, Boston Public Library, Coro Allegro, and the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce. In addition, H+H will welcome families enrolled in the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity Program (METCO), to Friday’s performance, and Boston students and their families to Sunday’s matinee free of charge in partnership with the City of Boston Family Days program. With instrument demos before each concert, families will enjoy learning about the period instruments that H+H musicians play up close.
“H+H is proud to be part of a vibrant, diverse community of musicians and music lovers,” said Lilee Dethchan-Beltran, H+H Acting CEO. “We welcome all to enjoy our third annual Pride celebration and METCO and Family Days concerts with inspired music that connects all of us with our shared humanity.”
Concert Information
The Handel and Haydn Society presents Handel’s Water Music at Symphony Hall (301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston) on Friday, April 10 at 7:30pm and Sunday, April 12 at 3:00pm.
Tickets are available for purchase by calling 617.262.1815 or visiting handelandhaydn.org.
Musically Speaking
Forty-five minutes prior to each performance all guests are welcome to attend “Musically Speaking” in Higginson Hall. Hosted by Teresa Neff, H+H’s Christopher Hogwood Historically Informed Performance Fellow, “Musically Speaking” provides background and context about the music and composers on the program.
About the Handel and Haydn Society
Boston’s Grammy-winning Handel and Haydn Society performs Baroque and Classical music with a freshness, a vitality, and a creativity that inspires all ages. Called “one of the most exciting ensembles of historically informed performances in the world” (OperaWire), H+H has been captivating audiences for 211 consecutive seasons (the most of any performing arts organization in the United States), speaking to its singular success at welcoming new audiences to this extraordinary music, generation after generation.
H+H performed the “Hallelujah” chorus from Handel’s Messiah in its first concert in 1815, gave the American premiere in 1818, and ever since has been both a musical and a civic leader in the Boston community. During the Civil War, H+H gave numerous concerts in support of the Union Army (H+H member Julia Ward Howe wrote “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”) and on January 1, 1863, H+H performed at the Grand Jubilee Concert celebrating the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation. Two years later, H+H performed at the memorial service for Abraham Lincoln.
H+H’s Orchestra and Chorus delight more than 76,000 listeners annually through concerts at Symphony Hall and other leading venues as well as radio broadcasts. Through the Karen S. and George D. Levy Learning and Education Program, H+H supports eight youth choirs of singers in grades 2–12 and provides thousands of complimentary tickets to students and communities throughout Boston, ensuring the joy of music is accessible to all. H+H provides deeply discounted tickets and hosts special events for undergraduate students and concertgoers under 40 through the H+H Masterpass and H² membership programs. H+H has released 16 CDs on the CORO label and has toured nationally and internationally. In all these ways, H+H fulfills its mission to inspire the intellect, touch the heart, elevate the soul, and connect all of us with our shared humanity through transformative experiences with Baroque and Classical music.