Christmas Magic & Mystery

The Constellation Choir & Orchestra European Debut Tour

This December, Sir John Eliot Gardiner presents the debut tour of his new ensembles, The Constellation Orchestra and The Constellation Choir, alongside special guest soloists, to venues across France, Austria, Luxembourg and Germany.

Here is a one-off opportunity to experience live one of today’s most persuasive and respected interpreters of Bach’s works, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, launching his new hand-picked ensembles, The Constellation Choir and The Constellation Orchestra. Gardiner has been studying and performing Bach ever since he learnt all six of Bach’s motets by heart as a treble. The fruits of his lifetime’s immersion in Bach’s oeuvre are grounded in the most recent scholarship, but moving far beyond it, his interpretations are characterised by his deep understanding of the context of how this music came into being, how Bach worked, how his music is constructed, and how it achieves its effects— dance-like and joyous at one level, as in these two spectacular Christmas cantatas, contemplative and tender at another. This together with the French Baroque composer Marc Antoine Charpentier’s Messe de minuit pour Noël (Midnight Mass for Christmas), this is music to quicken the pulse, gladden the heart, as well as a chance to bask in the virtuosity of the instrumentalists and singers who make up Gardiner’s ensembles.

The Constellation Choir & Orchestra are the flagship ensembles for Springhead Constellation a new interdisciplinary arts organisation, which creates accessible, engaging, and educational performances that resonate across both generations and geographies. Under the visionary leadership of Gardiner, Springhead Constellation produces ambitious touring projects which examine the themes of transformation, regeneration, and intersections between music and environmental sciences.

Share:

Programme

The Constellation Choir & Orchestra
Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor

programme
JS Bach Cantata “Schwingt freudig euch empor” BWV 36
Charpentier Messe de minuit pour Noel
JS Bach Cantata “Unser Mund sei voll Lachens” BWV 110

Musicians

The Constellation Choir

Sopranos
Marie Luise Werneburg*
Sam Cobb**
Amy Wood
Emily Armour
Emily Owen
Eloise Irving

Altos
Eline Welle*
Iris Korfker **
Sarah Denbee
Simon Ponsford

Tenors
Peter Davoren*
Benedict Quirke
Ben Alden**
Graham Neal

Basses
Alex Ashworth**
David Stuart
Jack Comerford**
Peter Edge

* Guest Soloist
** Constellation Choir Soloist

The Constellation Orchestra

First Violins
Kati Debretzeni – Leader
Jane Gordon
Silvia Schweinberger
Dominika Fehér
Rebecca Livermore
Sophie Simpson
Alison Bury
Iona Davies

Second Violins
Anne Schumann*
Davina Clarke
Henrietta Wayne
Håkan Wikström
Debbie Diamond

Violas
Fanny Paccoud*
Monika Grimm
Lisa Cochrane
Annette Isserlis

Cello / Viola da Gamba
Kinga Gáborjáni*+
Catherine Rimer
Poppy Walshaw

Double Basses
Valerie Botwright*+
Cecilia Bruggemeyer

Flutes / Recorders
Rachel Beckett*
David Westcombe

Oboes
Michael Niesemann*
Benjamin Völker
Joel Raymond

Bassoon
Györgyi Farkas*+

Trumpets
Neil Brough*
Paul Sharp
Michael Harrison

Timpani
Robert Kendell*

Organ / Harpsichord
James Johnstone*

Lute
Thomas Dunford***+

* principal
+ continuo players
** assistant conductor

Concerts

December 2024
Sat 7 December 2024, 20:00

hrs

Hamburg, Elbphilharmonie
Mon 9 December 2024, 19:00

hrs

Vienna, Konzerthaus
Wed 11 December 2024, 19:30

hrs

Luxembourg, Philharmonie
Thu 12 December 2024, 19:30

hrs

Dortmund, Konzerthaus
Sun 15 December 2024, 19:00

hrs

Château De Versailles