Recent History
With Hogwood, the Society made its first appearance outside of the United States at the 1996 Edinburgh Festival. H&H also presented a number of programs that linked the baroque tradition of improvisation to that of such contemporary jazz artists as Chick Corea and Gary Burton.
Grant Llewellyn was music director from 2001 through 2006 and held the title of principal conductor for three seasons through 2009. During his tenure, the Society produced several commercial recordings, including Peace and All is Bright, and received its first Grammy Award for a collaboration with the San Francisco choral ensemble Chanticleer for the 2003 recording of Sir John Tavener's Lamentations and Praises.
The Society also entered into a multi-year partnership with Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng starting in 2003, which resulted in fully staged productions of Monteverdi's Vespers (in 2003) and Orfeo (in 2006) that Chen saw as the beginning of a cycle of Monteverdi's surviving operas and his Vespers. The 2006 Orfeo was co-produced by the English National Opera. Chen also directed a production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in 2005 for Handel and Haydn. In July 2007, the ensemble made its debut at The Proms with Sir Roger Norrington.
Harry Christophers first conducted the Handel and Haydn Society in September 2006 at the Esterházy Palace at the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, the Society's first appearance on the European continent. He returned to the Society for further guest-conducting appearances in December 2007 and January 2008. In September 2008, the Society announced the appointment of Christophers as its artistic director, effective with the 2009-2010 season, with an initial contract of three years. In September 2011, the Society extended Christophers' contract for another four years, through the 2015-2016 season.
Since 2011, each concert season has featured masterworks the Society premiered in the United States. In February 2011, it presented Handel's Israel in Egypt, the American premiere of which it gave on February 13, 1859. In March and April 2012, the Society performed Bach's St. Matthew Passion. The Society gave the complete American premiere of Bach's masterpiece in 1879. The group plans several concerts in California in spring 2013 and is scheduled to end its 2012–2013 season with Handel's Jephtha, a dramatic oratorio given its American premiere by H&H in 1867.
In 2015, the Handel and Haydn Society plans to celebrate its bicentennial, beginning with its 161st annual performances of Handel's Messiah in December 2014 and closing with Messiah in December 2015. Throughout the year, the Society plans to present exhibits, lectures, free concerts, and more designed to showcase its rich history and future plans.
The Handel and Haydn Society maintains a publicly accessible online searchable archive of its performances and artist history. All performances and artists from 1815 to the present can be accessed.
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