Bach Christmas Oratorio

On Sunday 8th December 2024 at 7pm the Guinness Choir & Orchestra will perform J.S. Bach’s magnificent ‘Christmas Oratorio’ (in English) in the R.D.S. Concert Hall, Dublin, with a professional orchestra and soloists Anna Devin, Soprano; Leanne Fitzgerald, Alto; Christopher Bowen, Tenor and Eoghan Desmond, Bass. This will be a glorious experience.

Written towards the end of J. S. Bach’s career, around 1734 and 1735, J. S. Bach’s popular Christmas work is one of the choral masterpieces of the Baroque era. The Christmas Oratorio was composed in six parts, each of them being intended for performance on one of the major feast days of the Christmas period. Bach cleverly integrated music he had already composed, adapting it for a new purpose. The majority of the choruses and arias are from earlier secular works and each section combines choruses, chorales and, from the soloists, recitatives, ariosos and arias.

Written in 1734, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio was composed as a celebration of the Nativity, unfolding the joyous events of Christ’s birth across six magnificent cantatas. The Choir and our wonderful ensemble of soloists and instrumentalists, performing 4 of these cantatas, will guide you through the rich emotional landscapes so masterfully painted by Bach, from the humble reverence of the shepherds to the exultation of angels, all united in awe before the newborn King.

You are invited into the wonder and mystery of Christmas through a blend of exquisite solo arias, vibrant choruses, and profound recitatives all under the direction of Ciarán Kelly.