Musica Angelica Presents Bach's Christmas Oratorio
Jenine Baines
November 18, 2008
Carols such as Away in a Manger and We Three Kings have become holiday staples from churches to shopping malls. But when Musica Angelica presents Bach´s Christmas Oratorio on December 13, at 8 p.m. at Zipper Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles and on December 14, at 4 p.m. at The Broad Stage, the story of Christ´s birth will be told from a distinctly baroque perspective.
Joining the acclaimed baroque orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Martin Haselböck, is Tölzer Knabenchor, the renowned German boys choir that, since its founding in 1956, has performed worldwide with a celebrated list of conductors including Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, John Eliot Gardiner, Herbert von Karajan, James Levin, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa and Sir Georg Solti. Tenor Markus Schafer and baritone Randall Scarlata will perform as well.
"Bach composed the oratorio to be performed in church on the six feast days of the Christmas season," explains Executive Director Laura Spino.
Musica Angelica will present parts 1,2,3 and 6 which describe the birth of Jesus, the annunciation to the shepherds (December 26), the adoration of the shepherds, and the adoration of the Magi, or Epiphany, which concludes with the Holy Family´s flight into Egypt to escape Herod´s soldiers.
"Although Bach did not compose opera, with the Christmas Oratorio, he comes very close," adds Spino. "The work was a truly operatic expression of faith for 18th century Christians. At the same time, while it´s not as well known as Handel´s Messiah, the Christmas Oratorio is just the kind of uplifting, festive music we crave during the holiday season."
Adding to the performances´ sparkle is Tölzer Knabenchor, or the Tölzer Boys Choir. Under the direction of founder Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, Tölzer Knabenchor is now considered one of the best boy´s choirs in the world, with a repertoire that ranges from the medieval to modern era. As the BBC´s Andrew Marr wrote, "Not only does the choir sing with an excellence most choirs only dream about, but it has produced many outstanding soprano and alto soloists who have shown the world that boys today can accomplish vocally much more than many had thought possible."
Ensembles within the choir give nearly 240 concerts yearly with orchestras and opera companies in China, Japan, Israel, and throughout Europe and the United States. Although, originally, the boys were recruited from the small town of Bad Tölz, today most choir members reside in Munich.
A graduate of Opera Studio in Zurich, German tenor Markus Schäfer has performed at the Salzburger Festpiele, the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, La Fenice in Venice, and Liceo in Barcelona. He has also appeared with the State Opera in Munich and Berlin Comic Opera and toured with the Baroque ensemble La Petite Bande.
Musica Angelica´s audiences first heard baritone Randall Scarlata in a performance of Handel´s Messiah. Described by the Boston Globe as "a triumph…a baritone (with) the vocal wherewithal to do just about anything he wants," Scarlata has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, the Birmingham Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the American Symphony as part of Lincoln Center´s Great Performers series.
While he has sung many of Bach´s cantatas, as well as the St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, Scarlata is also a champion of new music. He has participated in World Premieres of works by Ned Rorem, Samuel Adler, Daron Hagen, Paul Moravec, Thea Musgrave, Lori Laitman, and Robert Capanna, among others.
Tickets, which can be purchased online at www.MusicaAngelica.org or by calling (310) 458-4504, range from $39 to $55, with 4 concert subscriptions available from $141 to $187. Student tickets cost $15.
Zipper Concert Hall is located at the Colburn School of Music in downtown Los Angeles, at 200 South Grand Avenue. The Broad Stage is on the campus of Santa Monica City College, at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and 11th Street.
ABOUT MUSICA ANGELICA: Since its inception in 1993, Musica Angelica has presented an annual season of orchestral and chamber concerts in venues throughout Los Angeles County, programming a mixture of known masterworks along with rarely heard gems that showcase many of the best Baroque musicians from across the country and Europe. Today, under Conductor and Music Director Martin Haselböck, Musica Angelica is Southern California´s premier Baroque ensemble, garnering praise worldwide. "Musica Angelica soars in a Baroque gem… a triumph… Haselböck´s leadership was nuanced and inspiring," wrote the Los Angeles Times in a recent review. Musica Angelica has also been hailed as a "world class Baroque orchestra" by KUSC FM Classical Radio, as "L.A.'s premiere Baroque music ensemble" by Angeleno Magazine, and as "a serious and important early-music ensemble, the best of its kind in these parts" by esteemed music critic Alan Rich.
After Musica Angelica´s first international tour in 2007 – a joint presentation of Bach´s St. Matthew Passion with Hasselböck´s European orchestra, the Wiener Akademie of Vienna – El Universal of Mexico City described the performance as "a Passion as God and Bach commanded." Added Italy´s Dolomiten, "[Haselböck conducted with] intense spirit and soul… Martin Haselböck is a superb conductor. The festival concert in the packed concert hall was a triumph."
In 2007, Musica Angelica not only embarked upon its first international tour but raised its profile with a contract for four recordings on the Germany-based New Classical Adventure (NCA) label. The first – Handel's Acis and Galatea – was released that same year.
In addition, in 2008, Musica Angelica and celebrated actor and Academy Award-nominee John Malkovich premiered an extraordinary collaboration titled "Seduction and Despair," which played to two nearly sold-out houses and attracted substantial media attention throughout the United States and Europe. The original multi-media concert presentation, directed by and starring Malkovich, presented a concept and musical program by Haselböck and concept/libretto by noted Austrian writer/director Michael Sturminger.
Musica Angelica, based in Santa Monica, California, collaborates with leading performing arts institutions in Southern California including Los Angeles Opera, Long Beach Opera, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Norton Simon Museum, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Guest conductors have included Rinaldo Alessandrini, Giovanni Antonini, Harry Bicket, Paul Goodwin, and Jory Vinikour, among others. The ensemble was co-founded by Michael Eagan, widely considered one of the foremost lute players in the country, and gambist Mark Chatfield. Eagan passed away in 2004; Chatfield, in 1998.
For more information or a brochure listing schedules for Musica Angelica´s 5-concert Orchestral Series as well as its Chamber Series, call (310) 458-4504 or visit www.MusicaAngelica.org.
Joining the acclaimed baroque orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Martin Haselböck, is Tölzer Knabenchor, the renowned German boys choir that, since its founding in 1956, has performed worldwide with a celebrated list of conductors including Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, John Eliot Gardiner, Herbert von Karajan, James Levin, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa and Sir Georg Solti. Tenor Markus Schafer and baritone Randall Scarlata will perform as well.
"Bach composed the oratorio to be performed in church on the six feast days of the Christmas season," explains Executive Director Laura Spino.
Musica Angelica will present parts 1,2,3 and 6 which describe the birth of Jesus, the annunciation to the shepherds (December 26), the adoration of the shepherds, and the adoration of the Magi, or Epiphany, which concludes with the Holy Family´s flight into Egypt to escape Herod´s soldiers.
"Although Bach did not compose opera, with the Christmas Oratorio, he comes very close," adds Spino. "The work was a truly operatic expression of faith for 18th century Christians. At the same time, while it´s not as well known as Handel´s Messiah, the Christmas Oratorio is just the kind of uplifting, festive music we crave during the holiday season."
Adding to the performances´ sparkle is Tölzer Knabenchor, or the Tölzer Boys Choir. Under the direction of founder Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, Tölzer Knabenchor is now considered one of the best boy´s choirs in the world, with a repertoire that ranges from the medieval to modern era. As the BBC´s Andrew Marr wrote, "Not only does the choir sing with an excellence most choirs only dream about, but it has produced many outstanding soprano and alto soloists who have shown the world that boys today can accomplish vocally much more than many had thought possible."
Ensembles within the choir give nearly 240 concerts yearly with orchestras and opera companies in China, Japan, Israel, and throughout Europe and the United States. Although, originally, the boys were recruited from the small town of Bad Tölz, today most choir members reside in Munich.
A graduate of Opera Studio in Zurich, German tenor Markus Schäfer has performed at the Salzburger Festpiele, the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, La Fenice in Venice, and Liceo in Barcelona. He has also appeared with the State Opera in Munich and Berlin Comic Opera and toured with the Baroque ensemble La Petite Bande.
Musica Angelica´s audiences first heard baritone Randall Scarlata in a performance of Handel´s Messiah. Described by the Boston Globe as "a triumph…a baritone (with) the vocal wherewithal to do just about anything he wants," Scarlata has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, the Birmingham Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the American Symphony as part of Lincoln Center´s Great Performers series.
While he has sung many of Bach´s cantatas, as well as the St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, Scarlata is also a champion of new music. He has participated in World Premieres of works by Ned Rorem, Samuel Adler, Daron Hagen, Paul Moravec, Thea Musgrave, Lori Laitman, and Robert Capanna, among others.
Tickets, which can be purchased online at www.MusicaAngelica.org or by calling (310) 458-4504, range from $39 to $55, with 4 concert subscriptions available from $141 to $187. Student tickets cost $15.
Zipper Concert Hall is located at the Colburn School of Music in downtown Los Angeles, at 200 South Grand Avenue. The Broad Stage is on the campus of Santa Monica City College, at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and 11th Street.
ABOUT MUSICA ANGELICA: Since its inception in 1993, Musica Angelica has presented an annual season of orchestral and chamber concerts in venues throughout Los Angeles County, programming a mixture of known masterworks along with rarely heard gems that showcase many of the best Baroque musicians from across the country and Europe. Today, under Conductor and Music Director Martin Haselböck, Musica Angelica is Southern California´s premier Baroque ensemble, garnering praise worldwide. "Musica Angelica soars in a Baroque gem… a triumph… Haselböck´s leadership was nuanced and inspiring," wrote the Los Angeles Times in a recent review. Musica Angelica has also been hailed as a "world class Baroque orchestra" by KUSC FM Classical Radio, as "L.A.'s premiere Baroque music ensemble" by Angeleno Magazine, and as "a serious and important early-music ensemble, the best of its kind in these parts" by esteemed music critic Alan Rich.
After Musica Angelica´s first international tour in 2007 – a joint presentation of Bach´s St. Matthew Passion with Hasselböck´s European orchestra, the Wiener Akademie of Vienna – El Universal of Mexico City described the performance as "a Passion as God and Bach commanded." Added Italy´s Dolomiten, "[Haselböck conducted with] intense spirit and soul… Martin Haselböck is a superb conductor. The festival concert in the packed concert hall was a triumph."
In 2007, Musica Angelica not only embarked upon its first international tour but raised its profile with a contract for four recordings on the Germany-based New Classical Adventure (NCA) label. The first – Handel's Acis and Galatea – was released that same year.
In addition, in 2008, Musica Angelica and celebrated actor and Academy Award-nominee John Malkovich premiered an extraordinary collaboration titled "Seduction and Despair," which played to two nearly sold-out houses and attracted substantial media attention throughout the United States and Europe. The original multi-media concert presentation, directed by and starring Malkovich, presented a concept and musical program by Haselböck and concept/libretto by noted Austrian writer/director Michael Sturminger.
Musica Angelica, based in Santa Monica, California, collaborates with leading performing arts institutions in Southern California including Los Angeles Opera, Long Beach Opera, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Norton Simon Museum, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Guest conductors have included Rinaldo Alessandrini, Giovanni Antonini, Harry Bicket, Paul Goodwin, and Jory Vinikour, among others. The ensemble was co-founded by Michael Eagan, widely considered one of the foremost lute players in the country, and gambist Mark Chatfield. Eagan passed away in 2004; Chatfield, in 1998.
For more information or a brochure listing schedules for Musica Angelica´s 5-concert Orchestral Series as well as its Chamber Series, call (310) 458-4504 or visit www.MusicaAngelica.org.
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