Dec. 15, 16 & 17, 2023 data-filter="[2023 12|2023 12|2023 12|][jones-hall|jones-hall|jones-hall|][December|December|December|][[{|term_id|:2184,|name|:|Livestream|,|slug|:|livestream-concerts|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:2184,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:87,|filter|:|raw|},{|term_id|:1598,|name|:|Symphony Specials|,|slug|:|symphony-specials|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:1598,|taxonomy|:|series|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:32,|filter|:|raw|}]][{|term_id|:2304,|name|:|2023\u201324|,|slug|:|2023-24|,|term_group|:0,|term_taxonomy_id|:2304,|taxonomy|:|season|,|description|:||,|parent|:0,|count|:64,|filter|:|raw|}]"
Jones Hall will be filled with joyous refrains and exultant arias, including the iconic “Hallelujah” Chorus, in this powerful presentation of the greatest story ever told. {|with_image|:[{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Jeannette Sorrell|,|bio|:|Grammy-winning Conductor Jeannette Sorrell is internationally recognized as one of today\u2019s most compelling interpreters of Baroque and classical repertoire. She is the subject of the 2019 documentary by Oscar-winning director Allan Miller, titled PLAYING WITH FIRE: Jeannette Sorrell and the Mysteries of Conducting.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nBridging the period-instrument and symphonic worlds from a young age, Jeannette studied conducting under Leonard Bernstein, Roger Norrington, and Robert Spano at the Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals and studied harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. She won First Prize in the Spivey International Harpsichord Competition, competing against more than 70 harpsichordists from Europe, Israel, the United States, and the Soviet Union.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u00a0\nAs a guest conductor, Jeannette made her New York Philharmonic debut in 2021 and Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2022, both to rave reviews. She has repeatedly conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and New World Symphony and has also led the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Bach\u2019s St. John Passion), the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Opera St. Louis with the St. Louis Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Grand Rapids Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, and Philharmonia Baroque, among others. This spring, she debuts with Spain\u2019s Orquesta Sinf\u00f3nica de Castilla y Le\u00f3n.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nAs founder and conductor of Apollo\u2019s Fire, she has led the renowned ensemble at BBC Proms, Carnegie Hall, the Madrid Royal Theatre, Irish National Concert Hall, Library of Congress, and many international venues. Jeannette and Apollo\u2019s Fire have released 30 commercial CDs, including 11 bestsellers on the Billboard classical chart and a 2019 Grammy winner. Her CD recordings of the Bach St. John Passion and Vivaldi\u2019s Four Seasons have been chosen as best in the field by the London Sunday Times (2020 and 2021). Her Monteverdi Vespers was chosen by BBC Music Magazine as one of \u201c30 Must-Have Recordings for Our Lifetime\u201d (September 2022). Other albums include the complete Brandenburg Concerti of Bach (Billboard Classical Top 10 in 2012), four discs of Mozart, and five creative multicultural programs.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nWith more than 12 million views of her YouTube videos, Jeannette has attracted national attention and awards for creative programming.\u00a0\u00a0\n|,|title|:|conductor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Amanda Forsythe|,|bio|:|Amanda Forsythe is internationally recognized as a leading interpreter of baroque and classical repertoire. She sang Eurydice on the 2015 Grammy-winning recording of Charpentier\u2019s La descente d’Orph\u00e9e aux enfers. Alongside her other many recordings for Boston Early Music Festival and Boston Baroque, her d\u00e9but solo album of Handel arias The Power of Love with Apollo\u2019s Fire on the Avie label earned widespread critical acclaim.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nOn the opera stage, she has sung Semele (Philadelphia), Pamina Die Zauberfl\u00f6te (Rome, Seattle, and Die Komische Oper, Berlin), Iris Semele (Seattle), Marzelline Fidelio, Nannetta Falstaff, Amour Orph\u00e9e, Manto in Steffani\u2019s Niobe (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Jemmy Guillaume Tell, Corinna Il viaggio a Reims and Rosalia L\u2019equivoco stravagante (Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro), and Dalinda Ariodante (Geneva and Munich).\u00a0\n\u00a0\nHer collaborations include performances with leading baroque ensembles, including the Philharmonia Baroque, Tafelmusik, Handel and Haydn Society, Music of the Baroque, Boston Baroque, Vancouver Early Music, Apollo\u2019s Fire, and Pacific Musicworks. Her long-standing collaboration with Boston Early Music Festival has included a number of recordings and roles in baroque operas and concerts, attracting high critical acclaim.\u00a0\nShe is a regular soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Sileti venti & Laudate pueri; Schubert Mass in E-flat; Vivaldi Magnficat & Gloria) and the New York Philharmonic (Messiah; St Matthew Passion) and has also performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Academy of Ancient Music, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\nConductors she has worked with include Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nicholas Kraemer, Nicholas McGegan, Andris Nelsons, Sir Antonio Pappano, Christophe Rousset, and Jaap van Zweden.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nEngagements in 2023 and 2024 include Israel in Egypt with Apollo\u2019s Fire, Sileti venti with Boston Baroque in Boston and Prague, excerpts from Bach\u2019s Easter Oratorio and Pergolesi Stabat Mater with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Jael in Handel\u2019s Deborah for NDR Radiophilharmonie, Mozart Requiem with New York Philharmonic, Handel arias and duets with Tafelmusik, Vivaldi \u201cStorm and Tempests\u201d at Caramoor Festival with Apollo\u2019s Fire and Handel arias and Mozart Coronation Mass with Chicago Symphony.\u00a0\n|,|title|:|soprano|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Cody Bowers|,|bio|:|With \u201ca voice of rare beauty\u201d (Seen and Heard International, 2022), American countertenor Cody Bowers (Instagram: @MrMezzo) has received national award recognition from The Sullivan Foundation, The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and The George London Foundation for Singers. In the 2023-24 performance season, Cody makes debuts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in Handel\u2019s Israel in Egypt, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in a world premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff\u2019s The Sacrifice of Isaac, the Houston Symphony in Handel\u2019s Messiah, the Metropolitan Opera in John Adams\u2019s El Ni\u00f1o, and St. Petersburg Opera as Ruggiero in Handel\u2019s Alcina. In previous seasons, Cody has performed with Merola Opera Program at San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, the Stern auditorium at Carnegie Hall, San Diego Opera, Minnesota Opera, Utah Opera, the Atlanta Opera, Boston Early Music Festival, Opera Neo, Tanglewood Music Center, and Cantos Para Hermanar al Mundo in Torre\u00f3n, Mexico.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u00a0\nOn the operatic stage, he continues to expand a broad and contrasting list of characters that range from the Refugee in Jonathan Dove\u2019s Flight, Ottone in Monteverdi\u2019s L\u2019incoronazione di Poppea, Tolomeo in Handel\u2019s Giulio Cesare, Federico Gar\u00e7ia Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov\u2019s Ainadamar, Leonardo in Gabriela Lena Frank\u2019s new opera El \u00faltimo sue\u00f1o de Frida y Diego, L\u2019Enfant in Ravel\u2019s L\u2019Enfant et Les Sortil\u00e8ges; and Orlando in Handel\u2019s Orlando.\u00a0\nAs a concert performer, Cody has performed numerous works by J. S. Bach, including St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, and Mass in B minor. Other concert credits include Buxtehude\u2019s Membra Jesu Nostri, Ralph Vaughn William\u2019s Mass in G minor, Vivaldi\u2019s Gloria, and Mozart\u2019s Mass in D major. He is also an active member of internationally celebrated ensembles like Gramophone Award-winning Blue Heron Renaissance Choir, The Handel & Haydn Society, Apollo\u2019s Fire Baroque Orchestra, The Thirteen, Bach Society Houston, VAE: Cincinnati, Ensemble Altera, and The Choir at the Church of the Advent.\u00a0\nPermanently based in New Haven, Connecticut, when he isn\u2019t singing, Cody enjoys tending his many houseplants, brushing his two cats, Lily and Leonard, and exploring new recipes with his husband.\u00a0\n|,|title|:|countertenor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Ed Lyon|,|bio|:|Ed Lyon studied at St John\u2019s College Cambridge, the RAM, and the NOS. He has a wide repertoire ranging from the baroque to contemporary music and has appeared in many of the world\u2019s leading opera and concert venues, including the ROH, Glyndebourne, Bayerische Staatsoper, Dutch National Opera, Teatro Real, Edinburgh, Aix, Salzburg, Holland and Aldeburgh Festivals, and the BBC Proms.\u00a0\nCareer highlights include the main role in Denisov\u2019s L\u2019\u00e9cume des jours (Stuttgart Opera); Steva\/Jenufa (Opera North); Lurcanio\/Ariodante, Steurerman\/Der fliegende Holl\u00e4nder, and Walther\/Tannh\u00e4user (ROH); Don Ottavio\/Don Giovanni and Lurcanio (Scottish Opera); Jaquino\/Fidelio (Madrid); and Alessandro\/Eliogabolo (Dutch National Opera). Recent and future engagements include Tamino\/Die Zauberfl\u00f6te, Don Gomez\/Henry VIII (La Monnaie), Septimius\/Theodora (Covent Garden and Madrid),\u00a0 Lurcanio (New Israeli Opera), Belmonte\/Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and the main singer in Clorinda Agonistes (The Grange Festival), Quint\/The Turn of the Screw and the title role in Orfeo (Garsington), Eduardo\/Ades\u2019s Exterminating Angel (Salzburg Festival and ROH), title role in Candide (WNO), performances worldwide of The Diary of One Who Disappeared in a staged production with Musiktheater Transparent, and Ferdinand\/Miranda (Oper K\u00f6ln).\u00a0\u00a0\nConcert performances include Evangelist\/St. Matthew Passion with the Bach Choir, Evangelist and arias\/ St. John Passion with the RLPO, War Requiem with the NDR Hanover and the RLPO, a tour of Europe and the United States performing Beethoven 9 with the Monteverdi Choir, and Orchestra\/Sir John Eliot Gardiner, The Apostles with the Hall\u00e9 Orchestra\/Sir Mark Elder, as well as many concert performances with leading international orchestras and ensembles.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\nHis recording 17th Century Playlist with the Theatre of the Ayre has received wide acclaim as has Arnold\u2019s The Dancing Master for Resonus Classics.\u00a0\n|,|title|:|tenor|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Kevin Deas|,|bio|:|Kevin Deas has gained international renown as one of America\u2019s leading bass-baritones. He is perhaps most acclaimed for his signature portrayal of the title role in Porgy and Bess, having performed it with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, as well as the most illustrious orchestras on the North American continent, and at the Ravinia, Vail, and Saratoga festivals. \u00a0\n\u00a0\nKevin\u2019s 2023-24 Season includes performances of Mozart\u2019s Requiem with the Vermont Symphony and Mobile Symphony, Handel\u2019s Messiah with the Houston Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, National Cathedral, and the NAC Orchestra in Ottawa. Other notable performances in the season include a Gershwin program with the Oregon Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic, Beethoven\u2019s Symphony No. 9 with the Pacific Symphony, Brahms\u2019s German Requiem with the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, and he will perform the role of Commendatore in Mozart\u2019s Don Giovanni with Boston Baroque, as well as the role of Dick Hallorann in Paul Moravec\u2019s critically acclaimed opera The Shining with the Opera Atlanta. Other recent highlights include performances with New York Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Portland Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Omaha Symphony, and Jacksonville Symphony.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nA proponent of contemporary music, Kevin has performed Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors at Italy\u2019s Spoleto Festival, Derek Bermel\u2019s The Good Life with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and Hannibal Lokumbe\u2019s Dear Mrs. Parks with the Detroit Symphony. He also enjoyed a 20-year collaboration with the late jazz legend Dave Brubeck.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nKevin has recorded Wagner\u2019s Die Meistersinger (Decca\/London) with the Chicago Symphony under Sir Georg Solti and Var\u00e8se’s Ecuatorial with the ASKO Ensemble under Riccardo Chailly. Other releases include Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Handel’s Acis and Galatea (Vox Classics), Dave Brubeck’s To Hope! with the Cathedral Choral Society (Telarc), Haydn’s Die Sch\u00f6pfung with the Virginia Symphony and Boston Baroque (Linn Records), and Dvo\u0159\u00e1k in America (Naxos).\u00a0\n|,|title|:|bass-baritone|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |},{|type|:|custom|,|name|:|Houston Symphony Chorus|,|bio|:|The Houston Symphony Chorus is one of Houston\u2019s oldest and most distinguished musical organizations.\nOver the years, the Chorus has sung with dozens of the world\u2019s most notable conductors, including Andr\u00e9s Orozco-Estrada, Steven Reineke, Michael Krajewski, Robert Shaw, Andr\u00e9 Previn, Leopold Stokowski, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir John Barbirolli, Ferenc Fricsay, Lawrence Foster, and Hans Graf, to name only a very few.\nIn addition to performances in Jones Hall, the Symphony\u2019s home venue, the Chorus has also delighted audiences in various concert halls throughout the United States, Europe, and Mexico.\nRecent reactions to its performances include:\nClassical\/Chorus: \u201c\u2026beautifully balanced, modulated sound that seamlessly blended with the orchestra.\u201d\n\u2014Review of\u00a0A German Requiem, Houston Chronicle, May 8, 2018\nClassical\/Chorus: \u201c\u2026 the chorus was magnificent.\u201d\n\u2014Review of\u00a0Stabat Mater, Houston Chronicle, September 27, 2018\nThe Chorus consists entirely of volunteer singers who have considerable musical skill, vocal talent, and choral experience. They audition for placement each year.\u00a0 The Chorus performance schedule is possibly the busiest in the country, consisting of up to fourteen different sets of repertoire for a total of 45 concerts.\nThe Chorus has enjoyed the leadership of seven directors: Alfred Urbach (1946\u20131986), A. Clyde Roller (1967\u20131968), Wayne Bedford (1968\u20131969), Don Strong (1969\u20131977), Virginia Babikian (1977\u20131986), Charles Hausmann (1986\u20132014), and Dr. Betsy Cook Weber (2014\u20132022).\u00a0 Because of Dr. Hausmann\u2019s extraordinarily long service, he was named Director Emeritus upon his retirement.\nOver the years, the Chorus has sung with dozens of the world\u2019s most notable conductors, including Andr\u00e9s Orozco-Estrada, Steven Reineke, Michael Krajewski, Robert Shaw, Andr\u00e9 Previn, Leopold Stokowski, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir John Barbirolli, Ferenc Fricsay, Lawrence Foster, and Hans Graf, to name only a very few.\nIn addition to performances in Jones Hall, the Symphony\u2019s home venue, the Chorus has also delighted audiences in various concert halls throughout the United States, Europe, and Mexico.\nRecent reactions to its performances include:\nClassical\/Chorus: \u201c\u2026beautifully balanced, modulated sound that seamlessly blended with the orchestra.\u201d\n\u2014Review of\u00a0A German Requiem, Houston Chronicle, May 8, 2018\nClassical\/Chorus: \u201c\u2026 the chorus was magnificent.\u201d\n\u2014Review of\u00a0Stabat Mater, Houston Chronicle, September 27, 2018\nThe Chorus consists entirely of volunteer singers who have considerable musical skill, vocal talent, and choral experience. They audition for placement each year.\u00a0 The Chorus performance schedule is possibly the busiest in the country, consisting of up to fourteen different sets of repertoire for a total of 45 concerts.\n|,|title|:|Allen Hightower, director|,|small_image|:| \n |,|bio_image|:| \n |,|full_image|:| \n |}],|without|:[]}
HANDEL Messiah