Five solemn timpani strokes set the mood before cascades of wind and string instruments roll over us and build the anticipation for the choir's joyful «Jauchzet, frohlocket!» – the Christmas season and the infant Jesus are near! The well-known opening of Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio is quite simply the sound of Christmas for many, and a beloved pre-Christmas tradition. In December 2026 the Christmas Oratorio is performed by Bergen Domkor together with Bergen barokk.
The traditional baroque instruments Bergen barokk plays on bring the experience closer to the years 1734-1735 when the work was composed and performed for the first time. In typical baroque style Bach used some of his earlier compositions and other well-known music, and combined it with new compositions for the six cantatas that make up the Christmas Oratorio. Today it is one of Bach's most well-known works. The cantatas are written for the first three days of Christmas, New Year's Day, the Sunday after New Year and Epiphany.
Here parts I-III are performed, that is the cantatas for the first, second and third days of Christmas. Orchestra, choir and soloists tell the story from Mary and Joseph leaving Nazareth to register in the census to us leaving them in the miracle in the stable, with the newborn infant Jesus and the shepherds in the fields.
Renate Ekerhovd, soprano
Kristina Hammarstrøm, alto
Anders Jerker Dahlin, tenor
Lauritz Jakob Thomsen, bass
Bergen Domkor
Bergen barokk
Kjetil Almenning, conductor
