The Handel and Haydn Society has appointed Lecolion Washington Jr. as its next president and CEO, effective Aug. 1. Washington has served as executive director of the Community Music Center of Boston (CMCB) since 2017, where he led significant organizational growth, including a 200% increase in net assets and a fundraising campaign supporting the expansion to a new headquarters in Roxbury.
Before joining CMCB, Washington was a bassoon professor at the University of Memphis and co-founded the PRIZM Ensemble, which provides chamber music education for local youth. He said he was drawn to the Handel and Haydn Society because of its musical excellence and educational mission, while recognizing the opportunity to help classical music organizations attract and engage new audiences.
Washington will become the first Black executive leader in the 211-year history of the Handel and Haydn Society. Members of the search committee described him as a “great convener” with strong civic relationships across Boston and praised his ability to bring together musicians, staff, board members, donors, and the broader community. Washington said his experience navigating different cultural spaces throughout his career has given him the perspective to expand access to the music he has dedicated his life to performing and promoting. As he sees it, that background gives him “a certain type of cultural fluency; multiple versions of language and culture and ways of being that I very much understand,” he said. “For me, this is a really great moment to be able to activate that cultural fluency in service of this music that I love. And when I say I love it, I mean, I’ve devoted my entire life to it. This is not a passion project, or something I do on the periphery … or something based on theory. I believe it because I live it.”
