Handel and Haydn Society

Founded in Boston in 1815, the Handel and Haydn Society (H+H) is considered America’s oldest continuously performing arts organization and celebrates its Bicentennial in 2015. Its Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus are internationally recognized in the field of Historically Informed Performance, using the instruments and techniques of the composer’s time. Under artistic director Harry Christophers’ leadership, the mission of the Handel and Haydn Society is to enrich life and influence culture by performing Baroque and Classical music at the highest levels of artistic excellence, and by providing engaging, accessible, and broadly inclusive music education and training activities. H+H’s Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus present live and recorded historically informed performances of this repertoire in ways that stimulate the musical and cultural development of our Greater Boston community and contemporary audiences across the nation and beyond.

H+H is widely known through its concert series, tours, NPR and American Public Media broadcasts, and recordings. Its nine-program series, held at Symphony and Jordan Halls in Boston and Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, reaches 2,700 subscribers and 15,500 single ticket buyers from throughout New England. Among the chorus’s many awards and recognitions, H+H won a Grammy award for its recording of Tavener’s Lamentations and Praises, co-commissioned with Chanticleer.

Established in 1985, H+H’s award-winning Karen S. and George D. Levy Education Program reaches 10,000 students each year throughout Greater Boston, many in underserved communities. H+H also maintains partnerships with area cultural and higher education institutions, including Boston Public Library, the Museum of African American History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New England Conservatory, and Harvard University.