“The Handel and Haydn Society will continue its bicentennial celebration in the year to come, with a free outdoor performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony this summer in Copley Square, an exhibition at the Boston Public Library, and the premiere of a newly commissioned work by Gabriela Lena Frank,” writes Jeremy Eichler in Monday’s (1/19) Boston Globe. “The Society will also give its first complete performances of Handel’s oratorio ‘Saul,’ and return to Bach’s St. John Passion.… Artistic director Harry Christophers … will lead five of the nine subscription programs…. Guest conductor Richard Egarr [will] lead … a program of rarely spotted Baroque works by Gabrieli, Castello, Marini, and Fontana [and] an all-Beethoven program … with fortepianist Robert Levin (Feb. 26 and 28, 2016). Laurence Cummings will lead the Society’s ‘Bach Christmas’ program (Dec. 17 and 20)…. The Society will continue its series of recordings on the CORO label, with a new CD of Haydn’s ‘Creation’ planned for release this fall…. H&H musicians will also step beyond their usual venues, performing at the Gardner Museum,” as well as the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Library of Congress. “Gabriela Lena Frank’s work will have its premiere on June 18 … on a program that also includes works by Arvo Pärt, James MacMillan, and Palestrina.” Read about the Handel and Haydn Society’s 200-year journey in the new issue of Symphony magazine here.
Posted January 21, 2015
