Christmas Oratorio

Johann Sebastian Bach was used to writing music for every celebration in the church’s calendar, but to mark Christmas in 1734, he surpassed even himself. Bach conceived an elaborate set of cantatas that would form a journey in music, from the birth of Christ to the adoration of the infant Jesus by the Magi. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio moves from frolicking trumpets, drums and choirs to touching arias, tremendous choruses, operatic ensembles and orchestral interludes. ‘There is no more life-giving, joy-enhancing experience in Bach’s music than a great performance of the Christmas Oratorio’ wrote the composer’s biographer Sir Nicholas Kenyon, words that these performances will set out to prove emphatically. Currently Kapellmeister at Vienna’s Volksoper, conductor Michael Papadopoulos joins the Orchestra with four esteemed vocal soloists and Oxford Philharmonic Choir.