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Masaaki Suzuki leads the Choir and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment through Bach's Christmas Oratorio across two evenings at the Southbank Centre. 

Edinburgh’s Ludus Baroque joined by the Marian Consort bring seasonal joy and Baroque warmth in a complete performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

In Germany, the Christmas Oratorio is performed with the same frequency during the holiday season as Messiah in English-speaking countries. In Boston, the BSO gives its first performance!

Lars Vogt, Royal Nothern Sinfonia and Chorus and a strong quartet of soloists bring the angelic tidings of peace and goodwill in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

Dunedin Consort’s band of virtuosi players, four Early music specialist soloists and just four ripieno singers gave a nimble and exquisitely focussed performance of the Christmas Oratorio simply bursting with enjoyment.

An early Christmas celebration in Budapest, with four of Bach's cantatas from his Christmas Oratorio.

It was no Christmas miracle, but the OSM's technically strong Bach concert brought a dignified kind of cheer to the most wonderful time of the year.

The Scottish Ensemble's seasonal concert by candlelight looks at J.S. Bach and those inspired by his music.  

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 Christmas Oratorio is an odd work to perform in concert, but it makes a welcome change from the obligatory annual Messiah. Bach’s piece contains six separate cantatas that tell the traditional Nativity narrative, all subsumed under the broader theme.

In brief introductory remarks, founder and director of Ludus Baroque Richard Neville-Towle outlined three significant features of the performance. The indicated presence of a crib signified that this was to be a devotional performance, and being able to make sense of this is possibly what divides the faithful from the faithless.

The Dunedin Consort and Players is running a series of three concerts over the coming months, each programming two of Bach’s Brandenberg Concertos interspersed with two Cantatas. Although strictly speaking still in Advent, when Leipzig frowned on elaborate church music, a large crowd turned out to hear this imaginative all-Bach programme for this Christmas season in Perth Concert Hall.