Since the first of these annual events in 2000, when the magnificent Frauenkirche was still a building site – destroyed during World War II, it was painstakingly reconstructed out of the ruins – the Advent Concert has become a new holiday tradition in Dresden, to be enjoyed by music lovers throughout the world. That appeal is reflected in the concert’s lineup of artists. This time they are headed by renowned Scottish maestro Donald Runnicles, featured “in the solid, German repertoire which is his chief glory” (Financial Times). His soloists are rising-star soprano Sonya Yoncheva, “charismatic” (New York Times) and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni. Beginning in a blaze of glory with the opening chorus from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, the thoughtfully compiled programme features seasonally appropriate selections by Handel, Seidel, Weber, Mendelssohn, Humperdinck, Gounod and Reger. “A thrilling concert, festive, ambitious and impressively filmed.” (Sächsische Zeitung)
Hengelbrock conducts Bach and Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Thomas Hengelbrock and the Orchestre de Paris teamed up to perform one of the most brilliant works of European church music: J.S. Bach’s Magnificat. This opus is a musical setting of the biblical canticle Magnificat, which is one of the most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn, frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. Following this, the musicians draw the attention of the audience to the content and structural parallels between Bach and Felix Mendelssohn, who has rendered outstanding services to the revivification of the interest in music of J.S. Bach. The musicians delight the audience with the Psalm 42 and the Christmas Cantata, two compositions full of religious fervor.