For immediate release

Bach's Christmas Oratorio - A highpoint in the 25th season of Les Violons du Roy

Montréal, October 20, 2009 – On Wednesday, December 9 in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church, Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, conducted by Bernard Labadie, will perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio before taking the production to Carnegie Hall in New York. Soprano Rosemary Joshua, counter tenor David Daniels, tenor Jan Kobow and bass-baritone Joshua Hopkins are the members of the outstanding quartet of soloists that will join the choir and orchestra in a performance of one of the masterworks of the Baroque repertoire.

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is one of his most accomplished sacred works. It was composed in 1734, and is characterized by the range of musical and expressive techniques it employs. This large-scale work is made up of six separate cantatas, one for each of six holidays in the Christmas and Epiphany season. Listeners can follow the story of the Nativity, from the census of the Emperor Augustus and the Birth of Jesus, through the annunciation to the shepherds, the adoration of the shepherds, the circumcision and naming of Jesus, the journey of the Magi, to the adoration of the Magi. Each section includes choruses, arias, recitatives and a chorale, while the narration of the Evangelist provides a link from one cantata to the next and gives the work its overall unity.

The role of the Evangelist is written for tenor, and will be sung by Jan Kobow, a highly sought-after German performer of Baroque music. Among other achievements, he has taken part in the remarkable project to record all of Bach’s cantatas (the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage) led by John Eliot Gardiner. The various arias, duos, trios and recitatives will be performed by three soloists: soprano Rosemary Joshua, a superb musician renowned for her virtuosity and brilliant voice, counter tenor David Daniels and baritone Joshua Hopkins. To give each part of the oratorio an appropriate character, Bach varied his orchestration from brilliant (Parts 1, 3 and 6) to sombre (Parts 2, 4 and 5). Trumpets, horns, transverse flutes, oboes, oboes d’amore, bassoon and timpani are added to the orchestral strings. The chamber choir La Chapelle de Québec will have a new opportunity to shine in the work’s many choruses.

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