World Class Music - Right Here in Lexington.

This fall, internationally acclaimed conductor, keyboard virtuoso, and early-music specialist Ian Watson brings New England Baroque to the newly renovated Sanctuary at Hancock Church for an inaugural three-concert series featuring some of the greatest music of the Baroque. Lexington, Massachusetts is about to become a new destination for world-class Baroque music.

The series opens Sunday, September 27 at 3 p.m. with Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, followed by Dueling Harpsichords on November 8 and a performance of Handel’s Messiah - The Complete Masterwork on December 19. Together, the concerts offer Lexington and surrounding communities the opportunity to experience exceptional period-instrument performances without traveling into Boston.

“I am so excited to be able to present our series in Lexington,” says Watson. “We use period instruments and historically informed practice, not only to represent the sound and style which the composers intended, but also to recreate the white-hot moment the music was first performed and heard. My brilliant professional colleagues from the Handel and Haydn Society are amazing collaborators, and the newly renovated Sanctuary at Hancock provides a beautiful home for this music! I hope audiences will discover something very special there.”

Watson is uniquely positioned to bring this vision to Lexington. Since 2016, he has served as Associate Conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, and he has performed and conducted with many of the world's leading orchestras and ensembles, including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, English Baroque Soloists, The Sixteen, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Handel and Haydn Society.

His career has encompassed opera, orchestral and choral music, and historically informed performance. His longstanding collaboration with Sir John Eliot Gardiner included serving as assistant conductor, continuo player, organist, and harpsichord soloist for the landmark Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, an extraordinary project that brought performances of all of J.S. Bach’s sacred cantatas to churches associated with Bach’s life and work.

Watson is also a celebrated keyboard artist whose performances can be heard on numerous recordings and film soundtracks, including the Academy Award-winning Amadeus. He also currently serves as Artistic Director of the Connecticut Early Music Festival.