Handel and Haydn Society debuts.

[12/24] The performance includes the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah and a selection from Haydn’s Creation before some 1,000 people in King’s Chapel. Gotlieb Graupner is the first music director. The oldest performing arts organization in continued operation in the U.S., the amateur chorus was founded on April 20, 1815, and incorporated on February 9, 1816. It is initially made up of 90 men and 10 women, and John Sullivan Dwight subsequently explains, “The membership has always been confined to the male sex. The ladies sing by invitation.” Early concerts are held in the third floor of the Boylston Market Building, professional musicians and singers are introduced in 1845, and the chorus performs in Jordan Hall today.