“Attending the Symphony, especially with choral performances, is a moment of magic.”
—Carolyn B.
| Dec 22 2024 | Sunday, 2:00 PM at Jones Hall | Buy In-Hall Tickets |
HANDEL Messiah
Jonathan Cohen has forged a remarkable career as a conductor, cellist, and keyboardist. Well-known for his passion and commitment to chamber music, Jonathan is equally at home in such diverse activities as baroque opera and the classical symphonic repertoire. He is artistic director of Handel and Haydn Society, artistic director of Arcangelo, music director of Les Violons du Roy, and artistic director of Tetbury Festival. In 2025, he becomes artistic advisor to the London Handel Festival.
Throughout the 2024-25 Season, Jonathan returns to Kammerorchester Basel and directs performances of St. Matthew Passion with both Rotterdam Philharmonic and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He returns to Glyndebourne Festival for a revival of Barrie Kosky’s production of Handel’s Saul. He leads both the Handel and Haydn Society and Houston Symphony in Messiah; and with Handel and Haydn, he conducts Haydn’s The Seasons, Mozart’s Requiem, and Beethoven’s Mass in C.
Jonathan founded Arcangelo in 2010 to create high quality bespoke projects. The ensemble was the first named Baroque Ensemble in Residence at Wigmore Hall, where it enjoys a continuing close association, and has toured to Philharmonie Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus, Barbican Centre, Kölner Philharmonie, Salzburg Festival, and MA Festival Bruges, with three appearances at the BBC Proms, including the premiere of Handel’s Theodora (2018) and a televised performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (2021). It is Principal Ensemble in Residence at the London Handel Festival in 2025.
Arcangelo’s founding commitment to the recording studio has produced 30 critically lauded albums, including Arias for Guadagni and Bach Cantatas with Iestyn Davies (Hyperion, Gramophone Award 2012 and 2017), Mozart’s Violin Concertos with Vilde Frang (Warner, ECHO Klassik Award 2015), C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concertos with Nicolas Altstaedt (Hyperion, BBC Music Magazine Award 2017), Buxtehude Trio Sonatas Op.1 (Alpha Classics, Grammy 2018 nominee), Tiranno with Kate Lindsey (Alpha, Sunday Times Records of the Year 2021). Arcangelo’s latest recordings include Handel’s Theodora, Sacroprofano with Tim Mead, Handel’s Chandos Anthems (Alpha, releasing 2025), and a landmark project with Nicolas Altstaedt to make the first survey on period instruments of Boccherini Cello Concertos (Alpha).
A native of Bolivar, New York, American soprano Joélle Harvey has built a reputation as one of the finest singers of her generation, performing major roles on stages such as the Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne, Royal Opera House, Zürich Opera, Teatro La Fenice, and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
Joélle begins a richly-varied 2024-25 Season with Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque for Haydn’s Creation, returning to Chicago later in the season for the composer’s Paukenmesse with the Chicago Symphony (Manfred Honeck conducting). She sings Mozart’s Requiem with the St. Louis Symphony (Stéphane Denève), a program of Poulenc and Ravel in a return to the Milwaukee Symphony, and Mahler’s 2nd Symphony Resurrection for conductor Robin Ticciati’s final season with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. The season promises performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Houston Symphony, selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Cincinnati Symphony, Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Magnificatwith the Cleveland Orchestra, St. John Passion with Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Bernard Labadie, and Handel cantatas with Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society and Jonathan Cohen. During Summer 2025, she returns to the role of Anne Trulove in Chas Rader-Shieber’s new production of The Rake’s Progress at Des Moines Opera. Future seasons include leading roles with the Bayerische Staatsoper and Santa Fe Opera.
The soprano began the 2023-24 Season with an appearance at London’s Wigmore Hall, performing the role of Tirsi in Handel’s Clori, Tirsi e Fileno, with Harry Bicket leading The English Concert. She sang Handel’s Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, North Carolina Symphony and Handel and Haydn Society, and Faure’s Requiemwith the National Symphony Orchestra. Season debuts included the Houston Symphony for Orff’s Carmina burana, and the New World Symphony for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Notably, Joélle joined two long-tenured music directors for their farewell seasons: Louis Langrée, leading the Cincinnati Symphony in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, and the Kansas City Symphony’s Michael Stern, in performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.
Jennifer Johnson Cano’s performance in Santa Fe Opera’s recent premiere of The Righteous earned her accolades from The New York Times, which noted how she “voluptuously captured” the pain and strength of her character. The Wall Street Journal described her as “riveting,” and Opera News has described her as a “matchless interpreter of contemporary opera.”
Her 2024–25 Season highlights include roles in Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s productions of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Orchestre Métropolitain, Haydn’s Mass in Time of Warat the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as holiday performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Cincinnati Symphony and Handel’s Messiah with the Houston Symphony. She also performs in Arizona Opera’s production of Aidaand in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Opera Theatre of St. Louis.
Jennifer undertakes a balance of orchestral, opera, and chamber music performances each season. Recent highlights include performances with Houston Grand Opera, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the FLUX Quartet. She has collaborated on numerous projects with The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in both the United States and Europe. She has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, and Atlanta Symphony.
Highlights of Jennifer’s operatic career have included the roles of Donna Elvira, Carmen, and Offred with Boston Lyric Opera; performances of El Niño with the London Symphony Orchestra; and Carmen with New Orleans Opera. She has appeared in more than 100 performances on the stage at The Metropolitan Opera since her debut 14 years ago. Jennifer debuted the role of Virginia Woolf in the world premiere of Kevin Puts’s The Hours with The Philadelphia Orchestra about which The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, “…her mezzo-soprano tone was deeply alluring.”
Jennifer joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Among her honors are winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, a Sara Tucker Study Grant, a Richard Tucker Career Grant, and a George London Award.
Tenor Andrew Haji is one of the most sought-after voices on concert and operatic stages across North America and Europe. His upcoming season includes debuts with the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Dresdner Philharmonie, Kansas City Symphony, and NDR Hannover. Additionally, he makes returns to the Houston Symphony, Carnegie Hall with Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society. On the opera stage, Andrew debuts the titular role of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito for Pacific Opera Victoria. He continues to frequently collaborate with conductors of note, including Manfred Honeck, Bernard Labadie, Jonathan Cohen, Andrew Manze, Rafael Payare, and Alexander Shelley.
During the 2023-24 Season, he appeared with the Seattle Symphony and Grand Philharmonic Choir (Bach’s Johannes Passion), Victoria Symphony (Handel’s Messiah), Calgary Symphony (Bruckner’s Te Deum), Carnegie Hall (Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium), Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (Verdi’s Requiem) and at the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9), where he last appeared as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
In 2023-23, Andrew made international debuts with the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts in Taiwan in his signature role of Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, and the Edinburgh Festival for Handel’s Saul. He appeared as MacDuff (Macbeth) for Calgary Opera, as Alfredo (La traviata) with the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony, and as Rodolfo (La bohème) for Orchestre Philharmonique et Choeur des Mélomanes. he starred in various digital and streaming productions through the 2020-21 Season, including Mozart’s Requiem for the Canadian Opera Company, and as Rinuccio in the company’s streamed production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.
Other notable appearances include Les Violons du Roy (Bach Cantatas), Chorus Niagara (Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis), Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Haydn’s Creation), the Victoria Symphony (Mozart’s Requiem), Edmonton Opera (La bohème), Calgary Opera (La traviata), Victoria Symphony (Beethoven’s Ninth), and with the Elora Festival (Bach’s Mass in B minor). He has received awards from the Marilyn Horne Song Competition, the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, and was the winner of the Grand Prix at the 50thInternational Vocal Competition in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, and the Montreal International Music Competition’s Oratorio Prize.
In the 24/25 season, American bass-baritone Michael Sumuel, lauded as having “vocals that are smooth and ingratiating” (Daily Camera) will return to the Metropolitan Opera to sing the title role in Le nozze di Figaro, sing his first performances of Porgy in Porgy and Bess with Washington National Opera, and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with the Canadian Opera Company and LA Opera. An accomplished and in demand concert artist, Mr. Sumuel will make his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performing Mozart’s Coronation Mass, perform the Fauré Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Music of the Baroque and Dame Jane Glover, Mozart’s Requiem with the Salzburg Camarata, again with Dame Jane Glover, and Handel’s Messiah with Jonathan Cohen and the Houston Symphony.
Operatic highlights include the Metropolitan Opera (Reginald in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X and Belcore, L’Elisir d’Amore), San Francisco Opera (Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro; Escamillo, Carmen; Elviro, Xerxes), Lyric Opera of Chicago (Masetto, Don Giovanni), Houston Grand Opera (Belcore, Sharpless, Marcello, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and Frank in Die Fledermaus), Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Sharpless, Junius in The Rape of Lucretia, Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Norwegian National Opera (Alidoro in La cenerentola and Escamillo), Seattle Opera (Figaro; Leporello, Don Giovanni), Detroit Opera (Forester, The Cunning Little Vixen and Elviro), Santa Fe Opera (Escamillo), and LA Opera (Jesus in The St. Matthew Passion).
In concert, previous work has included Messiah with San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, the United States Naval Academy, New Jersey Symphony, Phoenix Symphony and University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Lukes, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Seattle Symphony, and Mozart’s Requiem with the New York Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Music of the Baroque, Orchestra of St. Luke’s and North Carolina Symphony. Other repertoire includes Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (Pittsburgh Symphony and Grant Park Music Festival), Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Les violons du Roy), Christus and bass solos in Bach’s The Passion According to St. John (Seattle Symphony), the Fauré Requiem (National Symphony Orchestra), Haydn’s Theresienmesse (Grant Park Music Festival), Bach’s Easter Oratorio (Music of the Baroque), Puccini’s Messa di Gloria (San Diego Symphony), the bass solos Bach’s St. John Passion (Music of the Baroque), Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass (Pacific Chorale), the bass solos in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion as well as the Magnificat (Music of the Baroque, Mercury Houston) and finally, Bach cantatas BWV 61 and 140 (Handel and Haydn Society). Frequent conductor collaborators include Dame Jane Glover, Jonathan Cohen, Bernard Labadie, James Conlon, Zubin Mehta, Patrick Summers, Jaap van Zweden, Marc Minkowski and more.
Mr. Sumuel’s competition accolades include being awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant, Metropolitan Opera National Council audition Grand Finalist and a winner of the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition. A Texas native, he is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera and the Filene Young Artist program at Wolf Trap Opera. He currently resides in San Francisco with his wife and son.
The Houston Symphony Chorus is one of Houston’s oldest and most distinguished musical organizations.
Over the years, the Chorus has sung with dozens of the world’s most notable conductors, including Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Steven Reineke, Michael Krajewski, Robert Shaw, André Previn, Leopold Stokowski, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir John Barbirolli, Ferenc Fricsay, Lawrence Foster, and Hans Graf, to name only a very few.
In addition to performances in Jones Hall, the Symphony’s home venue, the Chorus has also delighted audiences in various concert halls throughout the United States, Europe, and Mexico.
Recent reactions to its performances include:
Classical/Chorus: “…beautifully balanced, modulated sound that seamlessly blended with the orchestra.”
—Review of A German Requiem, Houston Chronicle, May 8, 2018
Classical/Chorus: “… the chorus was magnificent.”
—Review of Stabat Mater, Houston Chronicle, September 27, 2018
The Chorus consists entirely of volunteer singers who have considerable musical skill, vocal talent, and choral experience. They audition for placement each year. 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.
The Chorus has enjoyed the leadership of seven directors: Alfred Urbach (1946–1986), A. Clyde Roller (1967–1968), Wayne Bedford (1968–1969), Don Strong (1969–1977), Virginia Babikian (1977–1986), Charles Hausmann (1986–2014), and Dr. Betsy Cook Weber (2014–2022). Because of Dr. Hausmann’s extraordinarily long service, he was named Director Emeritus upon his retirement.
Over the years, the Chorus has sung with dozens of the world’s most notable conductors, including Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Steven Reineke, Michael Krajewski, Robert Shaw, André Previn, Leopold Stokowski, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir John Barbirolli, Ferenc Fricsay, Lawrence Foster, and Hans Graf, to name only a very few.
In addition to performances in Jones Hall, the Symphony’s home venue, the Chorus has also delighted audiences in various concert halls throughout the United States, Europe, and Mexico.
Recent reactions to its performances include:
Classical/Chorus: “…beautifully balanced, modulated sound that seamlessly blended with the orchestra.”
—Review of A German Requiem, Houston Chronicle, May 8, 2018
Classical/Chorus: “… the chorus was magnificent.”
—Review of Stabat Mater, Houston Chronicle, September 27, 2018
The Chorus consists entirely of volunteer singers who have considerable musical skill, vocal talent, and choral experience. They audition for placement each year. 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.
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