Cappella Mediterranea & Nederlands Kamerkoor

There are certain traditional features of the holiday season: presents to open, glasses to raise and Mariah Carey. The Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) by Johann Sebastian Bach is another firm tradition. Bach wrote the six parts of the oratorio when he was cantor in Leipzig, to be performed between Christmas 1734 and Epiphany 1735. True to form, he recycled older compositional material, and as in the Ascension Oratorio, we hear a narrator (Andreas Wolf) and an evangelist (Valerio Contaldo). The soprano Sophie Junker brings extra light in her arias. Expect a Christmas atmosphere with all the trimmings, including jubilant choirs, exuberant trumpets and even an emotional lullaby (sung by the countertenor Christopher Lowrey). Leonardo García-Alarcón conducts the Nederlands Kamerkoor with the acclaimed Cappella Mediterranea.