Bach Christmas Oratorio to be performed in Uxbridge

UXBRIDGE: On Sunday, November 24th, at 7 p.m. St Paul’s Anglican Church in Uxbridge, Ministry of the Arts, will host a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. The performance will be in English. The Cantorei sine Nomine choir and Orpheus Symphonietta orchestra under the direction of Stuart Beaudoin along with soloists, Sasha Liebich-Tait, Shannon Coates, Colin Ainsworth and Jonathan Liebich will sing this marvelous setting of the Christmas story. St. Paul’s Anglican church promotes events which seek to combine and explore Spirituality and Music. Canon Mark Kinghan is excited to bring alternate ways of engaging the divine through the arts into the Uxbridge community. Director Stu gave us some insight into the project: In Christendom, Handel’s Messiah (1741) and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (1734) stand as the musical pillars of the Christmas season. Messiah, of course, is actually Easter music. The Christmas Oratorio is a series of six cantatas telling the story of the coming of Jesus, the shepherds, the magi and their significance to us. This is all in the tradition of many musical works written both before 1734 and into the present day like the local church musical presentations you experience each year. Bach’s Oratorio is not often performed in the English speaking world and always performed in German. This per-formance is using a fine English translation to make the music and story accessible to the listener. Although Bach’s setting is not well known to Uxbridge audiences, it would be the music of choice in Europe during the Christmas season. The new English translation allows us to bring this fabulous music into our Christmas. Stu says, “Bach is often thought of as heavy, detailed and difficult to listen to; but in this music he seems to be dancing for the whole program. Choruses are always upbeat and exciting; orchestra colours tell the story in sound; the soloists give us the scripture in the recitatives and commentary in the fabulous solos. It is a Christmas musical experience not to be missed. Your ears will be full of earworms.” Tickets are $25 and are available at the door or by emailing this address: stuart.beaudoin@sympatico.ca, or by phoning the church at 905-852-7016.