Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in 90 minutes

The introduction to Johann Sebastian Bach’s spectacular Christmas Oratorio is magnificent! The boom of the timpani and jubilant trumpets announce the birth of Jesus. Experience Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and follow the action of this mighty piece without a text pamphlet. At this concert, actor Helena Bergström reads the gospels in Swedish! All music is sung in German.   

It is easy to be deceived by the title, Christmas Oratorio, as if this were only a piece for one occasion: Christmas Eve. But this is not the case. In fact, the Christmas Oratorio consists of six different parts intended to be performed on as many occasions around Christmas. This is what happened in Leipzig around Christmas and New Year’s Eve of 1735, when it was performed for the very first time.

The Christmas Oratorio is an example of parody music, which is when composers borrow from their own earlier compositions. In the Christmas Oratorio, Bach used music from three cantatas, but reworked the music and replaced the text. Taking a page out of Bach’s book, who adapted his music to the circumstances, Cantemus performs all six parts of the Christmas Oratorio, but has shortened certain sections and left out a few movements to bring the music to a total of 90 minutes instead of nearly three hours.

Through her film and theatrical roles, Helena Bergström has become part of the cultural soul of Sweden. At this concert, she reads the gospels.

Tua Dominique, soprano, moves with ease between different genres and has performed on stages such as the Royal Opera in Stockholm and at the Salzburg Festival.

Paula Hoffman, alto, has performed on Swedish and international stages in major opera roles, and as a soloist in oratories.

Olle Persson, bass is one of the most prominent interpreters of the Romantic German lied repertoire, and has also garnered major success as an oratorio and opera singer.

Cantemus is a large choir founded in 1999 by Sofia Staxäng and Göran Staxäng, who has been choir director ever since. Over the years, Cantemus has sung everything from classical pieces such as Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah to Vivaldi’s Gloria and Orff’s Carmina Burana, and has also staged many opera productions and musicals for newly composed arrangements of songs by ABBA, The Beatles, Elvis, Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, Ted Gärdestad and more.

Rebaroque, with violinist Maria Lindal as concertmaster and artistic director, has been considered one of Sweden’s leading Baroque ensembles since the beginning in 1998. The ensemble is also internationally acclaimed.

For more than twenty years, Sofia and Göran Staxäng have collaborated on countless projects, from music festivals to concerts and choir courses.

Sofia Staxäng is a flute player, singer, choir director and flute instructor. After studying at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, for the past twenty-three years she has worked with choirs of all ages with the Church of Sweden and with Cantemus.

Göran Staxäng is organist and choir director. After finishing church music studies at the colleges of music in Gothenburg and Stockholm, he studied choral directing at The Juilliard School in New York. He has worked for over forty years with choirs in Sweden and the US, the last twenty-three of which have been with Cantemus.