Early Music Vancouver: Festive Cantatas – Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with The Pacific Baroque Orchestra
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- Myriam Leblanc, soprano
- Suzie LeBlanc, soprano
- Nicholas Burns, countertenor
- Colin Balzer, tenor
- Tyler Duncan, baritone
Johann Kuhnau — Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern
Johann Sebastian Bach — Weihnachtsoratorium ("Christmas Oratorio"), BWV 248 (Part IV)
This year, EMV’s Festive Cantatas features some of the most popular Christmas music of Germany in the 18th Century by Johann Kuhnau and J.S. Bach. Kuhnau was cantor in the Thomaskirche of Leipzig before Bach and in addition to being a remarkable composer, he was a lawyer and a linguist who wrote a satirical novel, Der musicalische Quacksalber (1700). Only recently has Kuhnau’s church music been given a bit of the attention it deserves. Kuhnau’s cantata Wie Schön leuchtet der Morgenstern ("How brightly shines the morning star") is filled with moments of lyric beauty and expertly-rendered Italianate ritornelli echoed in the solo vocal lines. The quality of this work is an excellent argument for exploring more deeply the musical culture that preceded and influenced J.S. Bach. This cantata contains some of the earliest orchestral writing for natural horns and this may have inspired Bach to do the same in his cantata by the same name as well as in Cantata V of the Christmas Oratorio. The Christmas Oratorio was originally written as six cantatas for six different days between Christmas and the feast of Epiphany.
For this performance of Cantatas IV and V from the Christmas Oratorio, five Canadian soloists of international renown join the musicians of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, under the direction of Alexander Weimann.
Attending in person: COVID-19 health and safety protocols for this event (including but not limited to capacity limits, vaccination status, and mask requirements) will be in accordance with the most current BC public health orders and UBC's COVID-19 Campus Rules.
A free, online recording of this concert will be available for one month on the EMV YouTube Channel starting on December 22 at 7:30pm Pacific. The concert is availble to watch for free or by donation.
Link to donate: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/52057
About Suzie LeBlanc, soprano
About Nicholas Burns, countertenor
https://www.tafelmusik.org/about/choir/bios/nicholas-burns-countertenor