The Handel and Haydn Society will open its 199th season this fall with a performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Its new season will also feature Handel’s oratorio “Samson’’ and a collaboration with Mark Morris Dance Group on a Celebrity Series presentation of Handel’s “Acis and Galatea.’’ These and other details of H&H’s season were announced Tuesday.
The performance of “Samson,’’ given its American premiere by H&H in 1845, will feature tenor Joshua Ellicott in the title role, and will be led by artistic director Harry Christophers, who will also lead the Mass in B Minor. Christophers’s additional programs next season will include Vivaldi’s “Gloria,’’ music of Bach and Byrd, and the annual “Messiah’’ performances.
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Among the season’s guest conductors will be former H&H music director Grant Llewellyn leading a program of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven; Richard Egarr leading Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4; and Scott Metcalfe, best known locally as music director of Blue Heron, leading a program titled “A Bach Christmas.’’ H&H concertmaster Aisslinn Nosky will also lead a program of works inspired by Mendelssohn’s library.
For the staged “Acis and Galatea’’ production with Mark Morris Dance Group, conductor Nicholas McGegan, music director of Philharmonia Baroque, will be at the helm of H&H. The cast will include Thomas Cooley and Sherezade Panthaki in the title roles.
H&H also announced plans to release two additional CDs on the CORO label: an all-Haydn recording and a holiday-themed disc spotlighting the work of the H&H Chorus.
617-266-3605, www.handel
andhaydn.org
Jeremy Eichler can be reached at jeichler@globe.com.