The Hungarian National Philharmonic's Christmas concert

No single large work this year. György Vashegyi conducts the first two cantatas of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, then Schumann and a late Honegger cantata, three composers and three very different ideas of what Christmas music is for.

About the event

Vashegyi founded the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra and is a central figure in Hungary's historically informed early music scene, but his programming has never stayed inside it, and this bill is the evidence. Jauchzet, frohlocket and Und es waren Hirten open the evening.

After the interval, Schumann's Nachtlied sets a Hebbel poem for eight-part mixed choir and orchestra, and Honegger's Une cantate de Noël, the last thing he wrote, tells the Nativity story in three parts for baritone, children's choir, mixed choir, organ and orchestra. The Hungarian National Choir sings under Csaba Somos, with the choir of the Zoltán Kodály Hungarian Choir School, and the soloists are Csilla Kovács, Dorottya Láng, Bernhard Berchtold and Zsombor Cserményi.

Dates and times

• Thursday 17 Decemberfrom 19:30

Getting there