H+H Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen conducts two grand choral works: “Spring” from Haydn’s The Seasons and Beethoven’s Mass in C Major.
Pride celebrations at the concerts in partnership with the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce include a collaborative art activation with Artists for Humanity and a community sing.
BOSTON | As longer days and budding trees promise the arrival of spring, the Handel and Haydn Society’s ‘Haydn + Beethoven’ concerts at Symphony Hall on March 28 + 30 offer music to awaken and reinvigorate the senses: “Der Frühling” (Spring) from Joseph Haydn’s grand oratorio Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) and Beethoven’s great Mass in C Major. The H+H Youth Choruses New Voices and Treble Chorus ensembles (singers in grades 2-6) will perform songs of nature, joy, and hope prior to the March 30th concert.
The period orchestra and chorus welcome soprano Emőke Baráth and baritone Thomas Bauer in their H+H debuts and returning soloists mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and tenor Andrew Haji to perform these grand choral works.
Scored for three soloists and chorus with a large orchestra, Haydn’s “Spring” musically illustrates sowing a new season’s crop, the hope and arrival of rain to water the fields, and a joyous celebration of animals: lambs, fish, bees, and birds. “Spring” concludes with sweet passages for the soloists before the chorus offers a final prayer of thanks.
“Composed during his later years, Haydn’s The Seasons is a mature work of astonishing creativity,” said H+H Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen. “Haydn clearly revels in depicting the sounds of nature, which he scored in “Spring” with depth and exceptional complexity. It’s been a long wish of mine to explore this grand choral work with H+H. As Haydn greatly influenced Beethoven’s early mass, I find it quite illuminating to program these two beautiful masterworks together.”
Beethoven composed his Mass in C Major for four soloists, chorus, and large orchestra at the young age of 35, already with pronounced hearing loss and with little experience setting liturgical texts. He studied the works of Haydn, and timidly delivered his first mass to Prince Nikolaus Esterházy with a note acknowledging that the commissioner was accustomed to hearing “the inimitable masterpieces of the great Haydn performed.” The Esterházys found it radical; Beethoven’s Mass in C Major is today celebrated for its inventive and striking musical contrasts and beautiful interplay between soloists and chorus.
Leading into the International Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31, the Haydn + Beethoven concerts will include H+H Pride ‘25 festivities, presented in partnership with the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce. During intermission and after the performances, concert goers are welcome to join teen artists from Artists for Humanity to create a music-themed collaborative mural titled, Love Out Loud. Following both performances all concert guests are invited to join H+H musicians at a celebratory reception and lend their voices to a community singing of “Love is Love is Love is Love” by Abbie Betinis.
“H+H is proud to be part of a vibrant, diverse community of Boston musicians and music lovers,” said Robert N. Shapiro, Chair of the Handel and Haydn Society Board of Governors. “We are excited to celebrate Pride at our Haydn + Beethoven concerts with inspired music, collaborative art making, and a moving community sing.”
Concert Information
The Handel and Haydn Society presents Haydn + Beethoven at Symphony Hall (301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston) on Friday, March 28 at 7:30pm and Sunday, March 30 at 3:00pm. All guests are invited to attend a Pride celebration reception immediately following each performance.
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 H+H’s Christopher Hogwood Historically Informed Performance Fellow, Teresa Neff, “Musically Speaking” provides background and context about the music and composers on the program. In addition, concert goers can enjoy a period instrument demonstration in the main corridor off the Massachusetts Ave. entrance 30 minutes prior to each performance.
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 210 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 seven 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.