H+H Programs for College Students

The Handel and Haydn Society initiated a partnership with the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2012 in relation to performances of Bach St. Matthew Passion. Through this partnership, H+H and MassArt explore the impact of multidisciplinary learning; demonstrate the ways in which a performing arts organization can engage a cross-section of its community, including students, educators, concertgoers, and the global internet community; and test the public’s conceptions of the arts.

Each season, juniors in the Illustration Department of MassArt create works of original art in response to a masterwork being performed by H+H that year. H+H Historically Informed Performance Fellow Teresa Neff and an H+H musician work with students to understand the background and composition of the selected work. The students’ works of art are judged by a jury and twelve are selected for display at Symphony Hall during the concert.

H+H initiated a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008 to enhance students’ learning experiences and provide resources for music faculty and performance ensemble directors. H+H musicians:

• Visit music history classes to give live demonstrations and hold Q&A sessions about period instruments to deepen students’ understanding of the Baroque and Classical repertoire.
• Coach choral and orchestral ensembles on period performance and style in preparation for concerts.
• Meet with MIT students and faculty at H+H concert program rehearsals that align with current curricula. MIT students and faculty then attend these concerts with complimentary tickets.

H+H and MIT also co-present lectures, panel discussions and colloquia with MIT faculty from across the institution and H+H artistic leadership and musicians, and H+H performances for the MIT community.