Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society Hires Two New Principal Musicians

Violist Stephen Goist and clarinetist Katherine Spencer will join the H+H orchestra from the 2025/26 season

The GRAMMY-winning Handel and Haydn Society (H+H) and its Artistic Director, Jonathan Cohen, have welcomed Stephen Goist as principal viola and Katherine Spencer as principal clarinet for the beginning of the next season.  

Following a competitive audition process that drew in an international applicant pool, Goist and Spencer were selected by Cohen and separate committees of H+H Orchestra members. 

An orchestral and chamber musician and historical performance specialist, Goist is also a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and principal violist of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and of Teatro Nuovo. 

He has performed across the U.S., Canada, Europe, India, and New Zealand, and as a guest musician with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, The English Concert, Bach Collegium Japan, Charleston Symphony, and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Goist holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School.

In tandem with her H+H role, Spencer is principal clarinet of The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Gabrieli Consort and Players, The Irish Chamber Orchestra, and the City of London Sinfonia. 

Additionally, she serves as a professor and head of early clarinet at her alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music. Spencer is also a graduate of the Chethams School of Music and the Hannover Hochschule für Musik. Currently, she is completing a doctorate at Stony Brook University, New York.

“I am thrilled to welcome Stephen Goist as principal viola and Katherine Spencer as principal clarinet,” said Cohen. “Both are exceptional musicians who share their passion for early music and period performance each time they play. I look forward to the talent, leadership, and energy they will bring to H+H.”