Australian Chamber Orchestra And Choir Of London Present JS Bach’s Christmas Oratorio
This December, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Choir of London will present a welcome reprise their 2013 performance of JS Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
Richard Tognetti will once again direct this baroque masterpiece with tenor Nicholas Mulroy again singing the Biblical text in the role of the Evangelist in five concerts of unrepressed joy and profound contemplation. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is the quintessential Christmas choral extravaganza, and showcases the composer at his most exuberant and joyful. It tells the story of the birth of Jesus through six cantatas that move from the Nativity, through to the birth of Christ, and the arrival and worship of the Three Kings. The work displays immense variety and colour, illuminating the story and characters surrounding Christ’s birth through kaleidoscopic alternations in instrumentation, the soloists and the chorus.
The Choir of London is an ensemble comprising Britain’s leading choral baroque specialists, professional members of chamber choirs and opera companies and vocal soloists. The choir was formed in 2004 when a small ensemble of British singers volunteered to take part in the Palestinian Bach Festival. Like the ACO, the Choir of London is renowned as an ensemble of soloists, and features outstanding vocalists stepping forward from the ranks for the chorales to perform the oratorio’s solo arias. Along with Nicholas Mulroy, the ACO’s Christmas Oratorio concerts will feature sopranos Charmian Bedford, Daisy Bevan, Mary Bevan, Anna Dennis, Nika Goric, Lucy Knight and Elaine Tate, altos Lotte Betts-Dean, Fiona Campbell, Annie Gill and Kate Symonds-Joy, tenors Gwilym Bowen, Jeremy Budd, and Thomas Hobbs and basses Alex Ashworth, George Humphreys, Richard Latham and Jonathan Sells.
Tickets: Call 1800 444 444 or visit aco.com.au
