The Handel and Haydn Society Welcomes English Soprano Carolyn Sampson in January

Renowned English soprano Carolyn Sampson joins the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra for ‘Mozart + Haydn' at NEC's Jordan Hall on Friday, January 9 and Sunday, January 11, 2026. H+H Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen leads the period ensemble in a musical feast for the new year featuring works from both the Baroque and Classical periods, including H+H's premiere performance of Georg Philipp Telemann's dramatic cantata, Ino.

The program opens with Mozart's lyric soprano feature Exsultate, jubilate, written when the composer was just 16. This operatic motet in three parts features a sparkling instrumental introduction and exultant Latin text with a dazzling finale of virtuosic "Alleluias” to be performed by Sampson. 

The H+H Orchestra will then perform Haydn's Trauer (“mourning”) symphony. In the key of E minor with abrupt shifts in dynamics, strong accents, rhythmic drive, and contrasting melodic motives, Trauer is an example of Haydn's deeply profound “Storm and Stress” compositions.

To conclude the program, H+H gives its premiere of Georg Philipp Telemann's dramatic cantata, Ino, written in his eighties and considered to bridge the Baroque and Classical periods of music. Full of technical brilliance and emotional depth, Ino tells the mythological story of a despairing mother who throws herself and her son into the sea, after which both are transformed into water gods.

“This program is full of freshness and excitement that will keep you on the edge of your seat,” said Jonathan Cohen. “Mozart's Exsultate jubilate offers a bubbly, champagne beginning for the new year, and Boston audiences are in for a treat to hear soprano Carolyn Sampson sing its virtuosic "Alleluias.” I'm also glad to present a mature yet neglected masterpiece of Telemann, his cantata Ino, which H+H will play for the first time. This concert offers a wonderful opportunity to hear works from both the Baroque and Classical periods, performed on period instruments as the composers intended for them to sound."

Equally at home on the concert and opera stages, Carolyn Sampson has enjoyed notable success throughout Europe and the rest of the world. She regularly performs with the English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Berlin Staatsoper, Opéra de Paris, Bach Collegium Japan, Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Vienna Symphony Orchestra. In the US she has been a featured soloist with the San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, and Cincinnati Symphonies, the Philadelphia and St Paul Chamber Orchestras, and is a regular guest at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City.

Meet the Music

All concert goers are invited to attend Musically Speaking hosted by H+H's Christopher Hogwood Historically Informed Performance Fellow Teresa Neff, Ph.D., forty-five minutes prior to each performance in NEC's Williams Hall. This lively talk provides context about the music and composers on the program, as well as a period instrument demonstration.

Concert Information