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Brockes-Passion is becoming not quite the performing rarity it once was, and this outstanding performance at the Göttingen Handel Festival this year could hardly be bettered.

Ton Koopman directs the Amsterdam Baroque Chorus and Orchestra in a distinctive and personal interpretation of Handel's Messiah.

It’s not every day that a world-class Baroque orchestra comes to small towns in the north of Norway. Then again, the Nordland Music Festival doesn’t happen every day. But maybe we should back up a bit. The Nordland Music Festival is a yearly festival held in the north-Norwegian town of Bodø.

The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra summoned the spirit of the holiday season this weekend with their performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. The work was originally composed for church services taking place during the Christmas season of 1734. Tonight’s performance featured the entire work, which was originally split into six sections, each intended for a different day.

The music spoke for itself the other day in Amsterdam, as the truly communicative and inspiring Helsinki Baroque Orchestra showed its strength on the Concertgebouw stage.