HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY’S HARRY CHRISTOPHERS SET TO RELEASE BOOK LOOKING AT HIS CAREER CREATING AND PERFORMING CHORAL MUSIC
A New Heaven: Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, Choral Conversations with Sara Mohr-Pietsch will be available August 15
(Boston, MA – October 3, 2019) Harry Christophers, Artistic Director of the Handel and Haydn Society, has partnered with broadcaster, writer, and curator Sara Mohr-Pietsch to create a new book exploring Christophers’ long career with his choral ensemble The Sixteen. A New Heaven: Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, Choral Conversations with Sara Mohr-Pietsch features a series of conversations exploring the history of The Sixteen, which Christophers founded 40 years ago. The book is available on handelandhaydn.org, https://cart.handelandhaydn.org/auxiliary/auxlisting.aspx?k=29.
Accessible to everyone interested in classical music, from the professional to the amateur, each chapter is linked to a piece of music which prompted Christophers’ and Mohr-Pietsch’s discussions.
In May 1979, a group of singers and instrumentalists, brought together and conducted by Harry Christophers, gave their first concerts as The Sixteen. Now, 40 years later, the choir celebrates its ruby anniversary with a season full of concerts all over the UK and internationally, going back to key works in its history which have provided its foundation as well as looking forward with new commissions.
Earlier this year, the Handel and Haydn Society announced that Christophers will step down from his role with the organization following the 2020-21 Season. An extensive international search is currently underway to find a successor. Under Christophers’ direction since 2008, the Handel and Haydn Society has been transformed; Christophers has hired more than 60% of the current roster of musicians and led them in 12 commercial recordings, the most of any H+H artistic director. Christophers led H+H through its 2015 Bicentennial, celebrating an unprecedented milestone for an American ensemble. He has also played a significant role in increasing the awareness of H+H outside of Boston, drawing audiences in through expanded tours, including performances at Tanglewood and in New York City. Christophers will begin his second-to-last season with H+H on October 4th and 6th as he conducts “A Mozart Celebration” at Boston’s Symphony Hall.
About Harry Christophers
Harry Christophers stands among today’s great champions of choral music. He has served as Artistic Director of the Handel and Haydn Society since 2008, founded The Sixteen in 1979, is Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Granada Orchestra and has worked as guest conductor with, among others, the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. Christophers’ extensive commitment to opera has embraced productions for English National Opera and Lisbon Opera and work with the Granada, Buxton and Grange festivals. Harry Christophers was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s 2012 Birthday Honors list. He is an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, as well as the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and has Honorary Doctorates in Music from the Universities of Leicester and Canterbury Christ Church.
About the Handel and Haydn Society
Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society is dedicated to performing Baroque and Classical music with a freshness, a vitality, and a creativity that inspires all ages. H+H has been captivating audiences for 205 consecutive seasons (the most of any performing arts organization in the United States). Today, H+H’s Orchestra and Chorus delight more than 50,000 listeners annually with a nine-week subscription series at Boston Symphony Hall and other leading venues. Through the Karen S. and George D. Levy 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’s numerous free community concerts include an annual commemoration of the original 1863 Emancipation Proclamation concert on December 31. The artistic director of the Handel and Haydn Society is Harry Christophers. Under Christophers’s leadership, H+H has released 12 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 us with our shared humanity through transformative experiences with Baroque and Classical music.
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