Ever since its founding in 1876, The Boston Cecilia has held a central place in the performing arts in this city. Antonín Dvořák led the chorus, then known as the Cecilia Society, in Boston’s first performance of his Requiem in 1892, and in October of 1900, Cecilia performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the inaugural concert of the newly built Symphony Hall.

Under Donald Teeters, who led the chorus from 1968 to 2012, Cecilia pioneered the use of period instruments for the music of Bach and Handel. \ Cecilia is renowned for its performances of Handel Oratorios, but then and now has shone in music of diverse periods and styles.  In 1976, Cecilia presented the American premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Phaedra, and in 2022, a world premiere of a commissioned piece, Paul John Rudoi’s concert length work Our Transcendental Passion. This 2025-2026 season, Cecilia’s 150th, will feature A Feast of Remembrance: Music of JS Bach and GF Handel with a full Baroque orchestra and end with A New Song, music of contemporary composers, many of them with important connections to Cecilia. Michael Barrett, an Associate Professor of conducting and music history at the Berklee College of Music and a multi-instrumentalist and professional singer himself, became Music Director of Cecilia in 2020, and under his direction, Boston Cecilia remains committed to delivering concerts characterized by informed and expressive performances of the great works of choral repertoire, old and new. This celebratory 150th season exemplifies that commitment.