Annual H+H 'Baroque Christmas' Concerts Set For This December

Make the season bright with the brilliance of Baroque music performed by the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra and Chorus in the beautiful and intimate setting of NEC’s Jordan Hall on Thursday, Dec 18 and Sunday, Dec 21. H+H Resident Conductor Scott Allen Jarrett leads the period instrument orchestra and chorus in this year’s ‘Baroque Christmas’ concerts featuring music to reflect the joy and exuberance of the season.

The H+H Youth Choruses Concert Choir will open the performances with Vivaldi’s Gloria and a South African hymn. The program includes three H+H premieres: Christoph Graupner’s Magnificat in C major, and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sanctus and Cantata 63, with its impressive four trumpet fanfare intricately interwoven with woodwinds and strings. The charm and intimacy of the manger scene is on full display in the Christmas cantata, Uns ist en Kind geboren, a motet for double choir by Johann Ludwig Bach, the older cousin and contemporary of Johann Sebastian.

A hallmark of H+H is its dedication to historically informed performance to give audiences the opportunity to hear the music as it was composed and experienced by its original listeners. The wind instruments played in ‘Baroque Christmas’ are made from wood and string instruments have gut strings instead of steel. Baroque or natural trumpets do not have valves; musicians change pitch by controlling the air flow through the instrument. Bach’s scoring of four trumpets–along with three oboes, timpani, bassoon, and strings–was unusually grand and fitting for the celebratory season for which Cantata 63 was composed.

Scott Allen Jarrett is recognized as one of our nation’s leading teachers and interpreters of choral music, and especially, the vocal works of Johann Sebastian Bach. In addition to his work with the Handel and Haydn Society, Jarrett is Director of Music, the Arts, and Cultural Engagement at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel. He established The Bach Experience at Marsh Chapel in 2007, presenting four cantatas in their original liturgical context throughout the academic year. He has also enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration with the Oregon Bach Festival.

“The music in this year's Baroque Christmas program brims with the season's hustle and bustle and the unbridled joy and hope in the message of the angel chorus: Peace on earth, goodwill to all people,” said Scott Allen Jarrett. “It's as if all the creative energy bottled up from the quiet weeks of Advent erupts in the festive fanfares of Cantata 63, launching Bach and his musicians into the New Year, full of confidence and good cheer. I'm thrilled to bring these magnificent works to Jordan Hall with my H+H family to lift all of our spirits this holiday season.”

Meet the Music

All concert goers are invited to attend Musically Speaking hosted by H+H’s Christopher Hogwood Historically Informed Performance Fellow Teresa Neff, Ph.D., forty-five minutes prior to each performance in Williams Hall. This lively talk provides context about the music and composers on the program, as well as a Baroque instrument demonstration.

Concert Information

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