Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio on five evenings in the Gemäldegalerie
Press release from 12/08/2016
A very special Christmas experience: in five concerts between 25 December 2016 and 6 January 2017, the Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin presents Bach's Christmas Oratorio in dialogue with paintings from its collection and works of modern music.
The six cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio can be heard on the exact days that Johann Sebastian Bach planned to perform them in 1734/35, between Christmas Day and Epiphany. Before each of the concerts, selected, thematically appropriate paintings by masters from the 15th and 16th centuries are explained in a special twenty-minute guided tour. The outstanding works by Rogier van der Weyden, Petrus Christus, Filippo Lippi, Hugo van der Goes, Martin Schongauer and Lucas Cranach the Elder, among others, set the mood for the cantatas in a special way. Following the concerts, which will take place in the central foyer, there will be an opportunity to take a look at the collection in the Picture Gallery.
Bach's spiritual message will also be complemented by modern musical works. Compositions by Pēteris Vasks, György Ligeti, Luciano Berio and Francis Poulenc will each be performed alongside a cantata from the Christmas Oratorio and pose the question of the power of faith in our time.
The Vocalconsort Berlin, which performs on the evenings with a flexible line-up, sings and the CONTINUU||M ensemble plays under the musical direction of David Cavelius and Nicolas Fink.
The Christmas Oratorio in the Picture Gallery
5 evenings between 25 December 2016 and 6 January 2017
Concert starts at 8 pm,
optional short guided tour of the exhibition at 7.30 pm
Tickets (per concert): 20.- /reduced 14.- Euro
available at: www.smb.museum/veranstaltungen
Press tickets: pressestelle(at)hv.spk-berlin(dot)de
All concert dates at a glance
25.12.2016
Cantata I: "Jauchzet, frohlocket" (1734)
and Pēteris Vasks: Ziles Zina (2004)
26.12.2016
Cantata II: "Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend" (1734)
and Luciano Berio: Sequenza I for flute (1958) / Sequenza VII for oboe (1969)
27.12.2016
Cantata III: "Herrscher des Himmels" (1734)
and György Ligeti: Lux aeterna (1966)
01.01.2017
Cantata IV: "Fallt mit Danken" (1735)
and Cantata V: "Ehre sei dir Gott gesungen" (1735)
06.01.2017
Cantata VI: "Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben" (1735)
and Francis Poulenc: Figure humanine (1943)