The Handel and Haydn Society Announces its 202nd Season Opener, Bach’s Magnificat

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ami Bennitt, Motor Media, ami@motormmm.com |617.797.8267

The Handel and Haydn Society Announces
its 202nd Season Opener
BACH MAGNIFICAT
Conducted by Artistic Director Harry Christophers
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September 23 and 25, 2016 | Symphony Hall, Boston

the press performance is Friday, September 23, 7:30pm
email for high resolution images, interviews, press tickets, and more information

[Boston, MA – September 21, 2016] The Handel and Haydn Society opens its 202nd season with a program of Baroque masterpieces featuring Johann Sebastian Bach’s magnificent Magnificat in D. Artistic Director Harry Christophers will conduct H+H’s period instrument orchestra and the H+H chorus, using artistic techniques from Bach’s time that, for the listener, make the music sound as fresh and as new as when it was written. The concerts take place Friday, September 23 at 7:30pm and Sunday, September 25 at 3pm take place at Symphony Hall, located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston.
Tickets range from $54-98 and may be purchased by calling 617.266.3605, visiting www.handelandhaydn.org, and in person at 9 Harcourt Street in Boston (M-F 10am-6pm). Student, senior, and group discounts are available.

“Soli Deo Gratia” (to the glory of God alone) – these are the words Bach penned at the end of each of his Cantatas,” says artistic director Harry Christophers. “His overriding vision was to serve God through his music, be it vocal or instrumental, and his legacy is a catalogue of such richness and inventiveness that there can be no other composer who can lay claim to his eternal genius. Bach challenges all of us, performers and audience alike; yet above all, he constantly lifts our spirits whether it is through the effervescence of the Concerto for three violins, (displaying here the sheer virtuosic quality of our players), the festive nature of the large-scale forces of Cantata 149, the intimacy of Komm, Jesu Komm with its rich contrapuntal tracery, or the energetic variety of his Magnificat. This will undoubtedly prove to be an uplifting opening season which showcases the collective and individual quality of our orchestra and chorus alike.”

Commenting on the program overall, MIT professor Teresa Neff said, “The texts set by Schütz and Bach on this program ponder ideas beyond day-to-day existence, whether it be what happens after we die, or being told, as Mary was, that our child will quite literally change the world. Here words are simply not enough, but with the addition of music, these passages from one phase of life to another and an individual’s response to those passages are poignantly voiced. When that music is composed by two masters of 17th- and 18thcentury music, the bold and nuanced musical renderings of these pivotal movements in time are unforgettable.

J.S. Bach: Komm, Jesu, Komm
J.S. Bach: Concerto for Three Violins, BWV 1064R
J.S. Bach: Cantata 149, Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg
J.S. Bach: Cantata 50, Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft
Schütz: Herr, nun lassest du deinen Diener in Friede fahren
J.S. Bach: Magnificat in D Major

 

Bach Magnificat Audio Previews
Click below to listen to three audio clips:
https://handelandhaydn.org/concerts/2016-2017/bach-magnificat/

“Magnificat Anima Mea” from Magnificat in D Major | The Sixteen | Harry Christophers, conductor

Cantata 50, Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft | The Sixteen: Harry Christophers, conductor

Allegro from Concerto for Three Violins in D Major, BWV 1064R
Cologne Chamber Orchestra |Robert Hill, conductor
Winifried Rademacher, Elisabeth Kufferath, Christine Pichlmeier, violins

Featured Performers

 

Aisslinn Nosky, violin
Christina Day Martinson, violin
Susanna Ogata, violin
Margot Rood, soprano
Sonja DuToit Tengblad, soprano
Catherine Hedberg, alto
Katherine Growdon, alto
Jonas Budris, tenor
Stefan Reed, tenor
Woodrow Bynum, baritone
David McFerrin, baritone

About Harry Christophers, Conductor and Artistic Director
The 2016-17 season marks Harry Christophers’ eighth as Artistic Director of the Handel and Haydn Society. Since his appointment in 2009, Christophers and H+H have embarked on an ambitious artistic journey toward the organization’s 200th anniversary with a showcase of works premiered in the US by H+H since 1815, broad education programming, community outreach activities and partnerships, and the release of a series of recordings on the CORO label. Christophers is known internationally as founder and conductor of the UK-based choir and period-instrument ensemble The Sixteen. He has directed The Sixteen throughout Europe, America, Australia, and the Far East, gaining a distinguished reputation for his work in Renaissance, Baroque, and 20th- and 21st-century music. In 2000, he instituted The Choral Pilgrimage, a tour of British cathedrals from York to Canterbury. He has recorded over 120 titles for which he has won numerous awards, including the coveted Gramophone Award for Early Music and the prestigious Classical Brit Award in 2005 for his disc Renaissance. His CD IKON was nominated for a 2007 Grammy and his second recording of Handel’s Messiah on The Sixteen’s own label CORO won the prestigious MIDEM Classical Award 2009. In 2009, he received one of classical music’s highest accolades, the Classic FM Gramophone Awards Artist of the Year Award, and The Sixteen won the Baroque Vocal Award for HandelCoronation Anthems, a CD that also received a 2010 Grammy Award nomination as did Palestrina, Vol. in 2014. From 2007 he has featured with The Sixteen in the highly successful BBC television series Sacred Music, presented by actor Simon Russell Beale. The latest hour-long program, devoted to Monteverdi’s Vespers, will be screened in 2015. Harry Christophers is principal guest conductor of the Granada Symphony Orchestra and a regular guest conductor with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. In October 2008, Christophers was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Leicester. He is an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford and also of the Royal Welsh Academy for Music and Drama and was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2012 Queen’s Birthday Honors.

About Aisslinn Nosky, Violin and Concert Master
Aisslinn Nosky was appointed Concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society in 2011. With a reputation for being one of the most dynamic and versatile violinists of her generation, Nosky is in great demand internationally as a soloist, leader, and concertmaster. Recent collaborations include the Thunder Bay Symphony, the Lameque International Baroque Festival Orchestra, Arion Baroque Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic, Collegium Musicum Hanyang, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Nosky is also a member of I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble. For over a decade, this innovative Canadian ensemble has presented its own edgy and inventive concert series in Toronto and toured Europe and North America drawing new audiences in to Baroque music. With the Eybler Quartet, Nosky explores repertoire from the first century of the string quartet literature on period instruments. The Eybler Quartet’s latest recording of Haydn’s Opus 33 string quartets was released to critical acclaim in 2012. Since 2005, Nosky has been a highly active member of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and has toured and appeared as soloist with this internationally renowned ensemble.

About Sonja DuToit Tengblad, Soprano
Soprano Sonja DuToit Tengblad has been a member of the Handel and Haydn Society Chorus since 2011. Tengblad is a versatile performer with credits spanning the Renaissance era through the most current composers of our time. Recent highlights include the role of the Israelitish Woman in H+H’s Samson, performances of Knussen’s Symphony No. 2 with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate with the New York City Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Handel’s Acis and Galatea with the Blue Hill Bach Festival, Handel’s Messiah with the New Bedford Symphony, and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. A lover of new music, Tengblad has premiered many works and roles. She recently performed in the Boston premiere of Kati Agocs’ Vessel with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. She also premiered the role of Maria in Diego Luzuriaga’s El Niño de los Andes with Vocal Essence of Minnesota. An active ensemble singer, Tengblad performs with the five-time Grammy-nominated ensemble Conspirare out of Austin, Texas; the Yale Choral Artists, the Oregon Bach Festival; Vox Humana out of Dallas, Texas; and Boston’s Blue Heron, Emmanuel Music, and Lorelei Ensemble.

About Stefan Reed, Tenor
Tenor Stefan Reed has sung with the Handel and Haydn Society Chorus since 2009, including as The Messenger in performances of Handel’s Samson in May 2014. Originally from Glasgow, Virginia, Reed is enjoying an active performance career in Greater Boston and nationally. Recent solo engagements include performances of Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli with the Dedham Choral Society, Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Boston Cecilia, and Britten’s Cantata Misericordium and Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli with Coro Allegro. With the Handel and Haydn Society, he has performed solos in Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Bach’s Magnificat, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and Handel’s Israel in Egypt. Other solo performances include Mozart’s Requiem, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, and Schumann’s Paradise and the Periwith the Back Bay Chorale, as well as numerous performances with the Miami-based ensemble Seraphic Fire, the Mount Vernon Symphony, Marsh Chapel Choir and Collegium, the Tanglewood Chamber Music Ensemble, and both the Boston and Maryland Masterworks Chorales.

 

About David McFerrin, Baritone

Praised by The Miami Herald for his “commanding stage presence and a voice of seductive beauty,” baritone David McFerrin has achieved critical acclaim in a wide variety of repertoire. This season he appears as King Mark in Frank Martin’s The Love Potion and Kuligin in Janacek’s Kátya Kabanová, both with Boston Lyric Opera. Past opera credits include Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and the Rossini Festival in Germany. This season on the concert stage he debuts with the Springfield (Mass.) Symphony in Schubert’s Mass in G Major and performs Charpentier’s Vespers with the Green Mountain Project in New York. Past concert highlights include a Carnegie Hall debut with Gustavo Dudamel and the Israel Philharmonic, Monteverdi’sVespers of 1610 at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, and appearances with the Boston Pops. He has performed at the Blossom, Caramoor, and Ravinia Festivals, and completed three summer residencies at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. A resident of Boston, he sings regularly with the Handel and Haydn Society and the Renaissance ensemble Blue Heron, and is a baritone section leader in the Trinity Church choirs.

 

About the H+H Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus
https://handelandhaydn.org/about/period-instrument-orchestra-and-chorus/

About David Snead, President and CEO
David Snead joined H+H as as President and CEO in October 2015 after serving as Vice President of Marketing, Brand and Customer Experience at the New York Philharmonic a role he held since 2001. Previously, he led the marketing programs of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Guthrie Theater, Milwaukee Symphony, and Hartford Symphony. He has also served as Associate Marketing Director of the Minnesota Orchestra, General Manager of the Richmond Symphony, and Executive Director of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony. Snead is on the faculty of the League of American Orchestras’ Patron Model seminars and Roosevelt University’s graduate program in arts management, and is a regular lecturer at New York University and Drexel. A noted expert on the relationship between orchestras and their audiences, he has been a featured speaker at national conferences in the United States, England, France, Finland, the Netherlands, and Australia.

 

Handel + Haydn’s 2016-2017 Season

Beethoven Eroica Symphony Hall October 28 & 30, 2016
Richard Egarr, conductor

Handel Messiah Symphony Hall November 25, 26, 27, 2016
Harry Christophers, conductor     

Bach Christmas Jordan Hall December 15 & 18, 2016
Ian Watson, conductor

Mozart & Haydn Symphony Hall January 27 & 29, 2017
Harry Christophers, conductor

Glories of the Italian Baroque Jordan Hall February 10 & 12, 2017
Aisslinn Nosky, director and violin

McGegan & Mozart Symphony Hall March 3 & 5, 2017
Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Monteverdi Vespers Jordan Hall April 7, 2017
Harry Christophers, conductor The Met Fifth Avenue April 8, 2017 (New York)
Symphony Hall April 9, 2017

Handel Semele Symphony Hall May 5 & 7, 2017
Harry Christophers, conductor

 

About Handel + Haydn Society
The Handel and Haydn Society is internationally acclaimed for its performances of Baroque and Classical music. Based in Boston, H+H’s Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus delight more than 50,000 listeners each year with a nineconcert subscription series at Symphony Hall and other leading venues in addition to a robust program of intimate events in museums, schools, and community centers. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Harry Christophers, the ensemble embraces historically informed performance bringing classical music to life with the same immediacy it had the day it was written. Through the Karen S. and George D. Levy Education Program, H+H also provides engaging, accessible, and broadly inclusive music education to over 10,000 children each year through in-school music instruction and a Vocal Arts Program that includes six youth choruses.

Founded in Boston in 1815, H+H is the oldest continuously-performing arts organization in the United States, and is unique among American ensembles for its longevity, capacity for reinvention, and distinguished history of premieres. H+H began as a choral society founded by middle-class Bostonians who aspired to improve the quality of singing in their growing American city. They named the organization after two composers—Handel and Haydn—to represent both the old music of the 18th century and what was then the new music of the 19th century. In the first decades of its existence, H+H gave the American premieres of Handel’s Messiah (1818), Haydn’s Creation (1819), Verdi’s Requiem (1878), and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (1879). Between 2014 and 2016, H+H celebrated its Bicentennial with two seasons of special concerts and initiatives to mark 200 years of music making. Since its founding, H+H has given more than 2,000 performances before a total audience exceeding 2.8 million.

In addition to its subscription series, tours, and broadcast performances, H+H reaches a worldwide audience through ambitious recordings including the critically-acclaimed Haydn The Creation, the best-selling Joy to the World: An American Christmas, and Handel Messiah, recorded live at Symphony Hall under Christophers’ direction. https://handelandhaydn.org/

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