TWO HUNDRED ACTORS. THE STORY OF BETHLEHEM.
In this edited stage performance, the story of Bethlehem is brought to life through featuring the characters of Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men, the Evangelist and the angels. Johann Sebastian Bach composed a cantata for each of the major festive days of the Christmas period: in many cases he used excerpts from his previously composed music. Bach himself regarded the cantata cycle, composed in 1734, as an oratorio, and posterity has since been cherishing this work as the most captivating and monumental composition of Bach’s lifework, along with the two musical pieces of the ‘Passions’. Bach’s work was first performed in Hungary almost a century ago, notably at Christmas in 1926: the Hungarian daily paper Pesti Napló described the piece as a heart-warming, infinitely pure-sounding miracle, which was received as a true gift by the audience of the time.
Program
Bach: Christmas Oratorio, BWV. 248 (excerpts)
Conductor:
Pál Németh
Soma Dinyés
Artists
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Choir and Children’s Choir
Eszter Balogh (mezzo-soprano) – Mária
István Kovács (bass) – József
Eszter Zemlényi (soprano) – angel
Szabolcs Hámori (bass-baritone) – evangelist
Zoltán Megyesi (tenor) – Gáspár
István Horváth (tenor) – Menyhért
Donát Varga (tenor) – Boldizsár
Melinda Kozár, Zsuzsanna Varga (oboe) – music-making angels
Family Tickets will be available soon!
Photo: Eszter Balogh ©Attila Vörös
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