Sunday, November 1, 2026
7:00 PM
Join us in welcoming Marc Minkowski as Boston Baroque's newly appointed Music Director in this inaugural concert! Following the great success of The Creation, Haydn poured his compositional powers into tracing the annual cycle of rural toils and rustic delights, from the tentative thaw of spring through summer's heat and autumn's harvest, to the cold inevitability of winter. The Seasons, composed between 1799 and 1801, brims with exceptional verve, energy, and warmth.
Boston Baroque brings this joyful and reflective work to life with a stellar trio of soloists: soprano Lauren Snouffer, tenor Andrew Turner, and bass-baritone Brandon Cedel, who portray the three farmers, Hanne, Lukas, and Simon.
Marc Minkowski, conductor
Boston Baroque
Lauren Snouffer, soprano
Andrew Turner, tenor
Brandon Cedel, bass-baritone
Joseph HAYDN The Seasons (Die Jahreszeiten)
This concert was originally recorded on September 20th, 2026 at NEC's Jordan Hall.
Learn more about Boston Baroque's concert season.
Edyn-Mae Stevenson I'm Edyn-Mae Stevenson from WCRB, and I'm here with Marc Minkowski, who is beginning his very first season as Artistic Director of Boston Baroque. And he's taking over from founder Martin Perlman, who's been leading the ensemble for over 50 years. So it's really exciting that you're here. Thank you so much for coming in.
Marc Minkowski Pleasure. Bonjour. Hello.
Edyn-Mae Stevenson I want to say welcome to Boston, but I understand that you already have roots here in New England.
Marc Minkowski Sort of. I mean, we did a concert for New Year's where I met the orchestra for the first time some months ago. And a long time ago, I was a student at the Pierre Monteux Memorial School in Maine. But that was in '81. But I learned so much about conducting, about orchestral playing in America, about the spirit also of the French conductors being there, like Pierre Monteux, like also Charles Munch later on in the BSO, like Pierre Monteux as well, in these times. It's a place which I feel, and what I am still discovering, with a lot of pleasure.
Edyn-Mae Stevenson How does it feel to be back?
Marc Minkowski It feels moving. It feels a lot of responsibility. It feels different from other parts of America where I have practiced. And everybody told me, you see, Boston is the most French city of the States. So I can confirm. Even if I'm not 100% French, I'm half American. So, it's a lot of fun.
Edyn-Mae Stevenson So obviously it's a very big deal that you're here because you're the first new artistic director in Boston Baroque's 50-plus-year history. But you are also the long-running artistic director of the Musicians of the Louvre, which I understand you founded quite a long time ago. So coming from that background, how does it feel to be taking on someone else's legacy with Boston Baroque?
Marc Minkowski Well, it feels quite natural. We have orchestra and me and Martin and me, a lot of differences, but also a lot of respect of the music we are playing. I am not thinking too much about this. I'm just thinking of the chance I have to be there, to transmit my energy and my fire, if I have, to the musicians and taking the best they can give to me. Also, I've been a guest in some of the big symphonic machines in the States, like LA Phil or Cleveland. And so it's nice to be with a chamber orchestra, and it's nice to be with an orchestra who knows instruments from the Classical and Baroque era. And knowing that the American groups for this are a little more— less known than the European groups, so I hope I can make them extremely popular. I mean, they are already, and a lot of respect. And I used to have recordings at home of Martin and Telarc. Yeah, it's very moving to be here.
Edyn-Mae Stevenson What is it about Boston Baroque that drew you to it? Why did you choose this ensemble?
Marc Minkowski They chose me.
Edyn-Mae Stevenson [Laughs] True.
Marc Minkowski First of all. But, you know, I heard— I was asked to do this New Year's concert, and I knew they were looking for somebody for the future. I said, well, why not? And let's see. And actually, when I arrived, things were a bit under— what can I say— fog. It was a lot of question marks about the future. But finally, these concerts were so nice. The Sanders Theater, the atmosphere there was so spontaneous. The audience liked it. The musicians and I, we had a nice exchange. It felt like we always played together a long time before that first meeting, and it was just very natural.
Edyn-Mae Stevenson - I like that, that the magic was there. And I understand that you ended that concert with a concerto grosso style version of ABBA's "Gimme Gimme Gimme." What was the idea behind that?
Marc Minkowski Funnily enough, I didn't know very well ABBA's music. It's something that was a bit far away from my culture. I worked a lot in Sweden for many years, but not really aware, traveling in front of the ABBA Museum all the time. And I had, like, 2 years ago, I was looking for a house and making a sort of road trip in France. And my young driver, 25 years old, told me, Marc, do you want to listen to some ABBA? Because we have a lot of hours to spend. And I listened to that and I thought, "Hmm, Not bad." And then a second song of the Gold album, and third song and fourth song. And I thought, my God, this is always the same, but it's so perfect. And actually, it's not the same. It's just a recipe of charm. And I think it's so feminist also, because these 2 ladies are superbly singing together, while the composers and guitarists, their husbands, are just almost doing nothing. And I thought, this is so nice and so pleasant. And then I thought, but it's from a long time ago. But there is a lot of young people.
I started to look on the internet and watching a lot of first listeners, very young. I thought, let's do an encore with this. And yeah, we were playing Handel Concerti Grossi, and my friend, the composer Laurent Couson, did something in the style with 2 solo violins. And we played it in France several times. The audience was crazy. But here, they were more than crazy because I think ABBA's souvenir is so strong. They're still there and they have their holograms performing in London. It was a lot of fun and I want to do a bit more of this. I'm not a crossover specialist, but I can do a little more. Why not? If it's a way to bring younger audience to us, why not?
Edyn-Mae Stevenson Tell me about Haydn's The Seasons. Why did you choose this for your inaugural concert, and what's special about it?
Marc Minkowski A masterpiece in the shadow of Creation. Creation played all the time. Creation being really very Austrian, but very British at the same time. While Jahreszeiten was a little more reserved for the Austrian audience, but inspired from English poetry as well. And I performed for the first time this piece last year in Italy, and I thought, what an incredible picture of modern times, because there is nature, and we are all running after nature everywhere on the planet. There is agriculture, the most important cooperation of human beings at the moment, with musicians maybe, and celebrated into a beautiful piece. A lot of elements like birds, animals, hunting. Maybe people don't like hunting, but still, it's— the ending scene is incredible. It was— no, no, it's all a contrast and a catalog of 18th-century but also modern times feelings. And it's a gift for the orchestra. It's a difficult gift, but it's a very nice one. It's fantastic for the chorus. It's beautiful. It's like a Mozart opera for the soloists. It's a lot of work for the conductor, too. I mean, it's very stimulating. And everybody, all big orchestras, big maestros have recorded this, like 40, 30, 50 years ago.
But on the concert platform, it's rare. So I thought, let's put something to inaugurate with a bit of rarity, but still some strong guarantees that it's a masterpiece. And also, for our first season, that's the best thing to play The Seasons. It's a chef-d'œuvre, masterpiece who needs to be rediscovered.
Edyn-Mae StevensonAnd so, what's in store for us for the rest of the season? What are we setting the tone for?
Marc Minkowski Well, there will be a "Messiah" conducted by a young Austrian conductor, Christoph Koncz. There will be "Dido and Aeneas" conducted by Lionel Meunier. And your servant will do a Beethoven celebration for New Year's, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, with a fantastic Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor from New York, fantastic, and Maya Kherani. You know, I had to free myself from a lot of other things, but I'm very happy to be able to start the season now. I know it's a bit early. It's still summer, a bit, the atmosphere in Boston, but why not going to listen to a beautiful piece which is not too long?
Edyn-Mae Stevenson So when we're looking ahead long-term, what are you hoping to bring to Boston Baroque's new chapter?
Marc Minkowski I want to keep them as good as they were and they are. I want to even improve things if possible. I want to help them to get even more well-known in all parts of America and Europe and Asia, maybe, and everywhere we can, and discover new repertoire, keeping the Baroque music as a strong base, strong roots. But, you know, I'm not the sort of conductor saying, I have a plan. I will do this. I will do that. I'm the best of the world. And then I'm more an instinctive person. And I go with the flow. And in general, I have good vibes around me, and I am surrounded of very nice people who help me to accomplish some dreams. So let's see.
Edyn-Mae Stevenson It's all good vibes. I love it. Well, I'm really, really excited to see how this new chapter goes. And thank you so much for being here, and welcome to Boston.
Marc Minkowski Merci beaucoup. Thank you very much.