Handel and Haydn Society Coming to UCSB
Arts & Lectures Presents America’s Oldest Performing Arts Organization
Musical history quiz: What ensemble gave the American premiere of Handel’s Messiah? And of Haydn’s The Creation? And Verdi’s Requiem?
Surprisingly, the answer to all three of these questions is the same — the Boston-based Handel and Haydn Society. Founded in 1815, it is widely considered America’s oldest continuously performing arts organization.
In 1986, its then-music director, Christopher Hogwood, decided to capitalize on that history by turning the ensemble into a period-instrument orchestra. While it sometimes ventures outside its comfort zone by collaborating with jazz greats, H&H specializes in playing music composed during its first decades of existence — and doing so in a manner the composers would understand and appreciate.
