Handel and Haydn Society Receives $10 Million Donation
Florence Lockheart
Friday, December 3, 2021
The anonymous donation will help create the Harry Christophers Fund for Artistic Excellence
The Handel and Haydn Society (H+H) has received an anonymous donation of $10 million in honour of artistic director Harry Christophers which will be used to help create the Harry Christophers Fund for Artistic Excellence.
The $10 million donation is H+H’s largest ever single donation. Based in Boston, the Society is dedicated to inspiring audiences of all ages with Baroque and Classical and has been running for over 200 consecutive seasons.
The anonymous donor has released a statement, which gave insight into the intention of the donation: ‘I wish to ensure that the next artistic director propels the magic, joy, and learning Harry Christophers created to new levels. I want the new artistic director and H+H to ensure it is the best in the US if not the world as to what it does, transforming lives with unsurpassed excellence.’
H+H announced the donation before last Friday’s performance of Handel’s Messiah at Boston’s Symphony Hall alongside the announcement that Christophers will receive the title of conductor laureate. This will take effect once Christophers has concluded his 13th and final season as artistic director in May 2022.
H+H’s president and CEO, David Snead said: ‘The title of Conductor Laureate and the Fund are just two ways of saying thanks to a leader who has given more than we could have ever asked for in his tenure as artistic director.’ He added: ‘Through the Fund, Harry’s impact on H+H will be felt for decades to come.’
Harry Christophers became H+H’s artistic director in 2008 and has worked as guest conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsches Kammerphilharmonie as well as working with English National Opera and Lisbon Opera. He was awarded a CBE in 2012 and is an Honorary Fellow of both Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He also has Honorary Doctorates in Music from the Universities of Leicester, Canterbury Christ Church, Northumbria and Kent.
The Harry Christophers Fund for Artistic Excellence will support conductor and soloist fees, orchestra and chorus compensation, audio and video recording and distribution, and touring.