"Abendmusik"... by 3

(Three Christmas Concerts)

Friday 19th, Saturday 20th & Monday 22nd December, at 20:30 (pm)

Historical Venue of St Paul’s Anglican Church

Christmas tradition of the 17th century, which started at St Mary’s church at Lübeck town, and was established by organist and composer Dieterich Buxtehude, is revived this year at the historical venue of St Paul’s Anglican Church at Syntagma. Back in the day, five Sundays before Christmas, the Church opened its gates in the evening and invited people to chant, pray, sing, be emotionally affected, rejoice, forgive, love again, prepare for the Christmas celebration. A similar atmosphere will be created this time, in the three evening Christmas concerts, which will take place on Friday 19th, Saturday 20th and Monday 22nd December, a little before and a little after the longest night of the year…

Friday 19th December, at 20:30 (pm)

“Jubilate Domino”

Vassiliki Karagianni, soprano

Nikos Spanatis, countertenor

Yannis Toulis, viola da gamba

Christos Paraskevopoulos, organ

 Program

Dietrich Buxtehude “Der Tag der ist so freudenreich”
 Dietrich Buxtehude “Jubilate Domino"
Dietrich Buxtehude “Puer natus in Bethlehem”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart "Et incarnatus est"( Mass in C moll)
Georg Friedrich Händel “But who may abide" (Messiah)
Johann Sebastian Bach ”In dulci Jubilo”
Antonio Vivaldi “Cum dederit” (Nisi Dominus)
Louis Claude D'Aquin “Noel-Suisse”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “Alleluia “ (Exsultate Jubilate)
Henry Purcell "Sound the Trumpet"

The series of concerts is inaugurated by renowned soprano and permanent associate of National Opera, Vassiliki Karagiannis, countertenor Nikos Spanatis, PhD Candidate of Ionian University, who has collaborated with all great theaters of Greece, gambist Yannis Toulis, with remarkable concert experience in Greece and abroad, and organist, artistic director of the Music Festival which takes place at St Francis of Rhodes and responsible for artistic proceedings of Athens German Lutheran Church, Christos Paraskevopoulos.

The program includes works of organist and composer Dieterich Buxtehude, establisher of Abendmusik institution, who is considered to be among the greatest composers of baroque era, with a representative piece of his era, and of the prominent stylus phantasticus. We will also hear loved choral preludes by Bach, the masterfully attractive aria “Et incarnates est” from Mozart’s majestic Liturgy in C minor, the contemplative and dynamic aria “But who may abide” from Handel’s Messiah, the peaceful aria “Cum dederit” from Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus, the deeply devout “Alleluia” by Mozart, the celebratory Purcell’s duet “Sound the Trumpet”, but also the popular and vocally virtuosic Buxtehude’s cantata “Jupilate Domino” for solo voice, viola da gamba and organ.

Saturday 20th December, 20:30 (pm)

Vocal Ensemble Corpus Minor

Artistic Direction & organ, Gerassimos Choidas

Second day will continue with a similar repertoire. The vocal ensemble Corpus Minor, specialized in baroque music, under the artistic direction of Gerassimos Choidas, will perform cantatas and motets by Diedrich Buxtehude, Georg-Philipp Telemann, Johann Christoph Bach, as well as Christmas arias of baroque era.

The mixed vocal ensemble Corpus Minor, consisting of singers with great familiarity with renaissance and baroque music repertoire, and solistic or choral experience, perform in a specialized, stylistically updated way, giving special emphasis to the sound, so that the “acoustic ideal” of each era is reproduced. Noble aspiration of the ensemble, whose artistic direction belongs to Gerassimos Choidas, is to constitute an important, new and pioneering presence within our country’s music landscape.

Monday 22nd December, at 20:30 (pm)

“Musical offering”

Guitarte ensemble

In 1705, then-twenty year old Bach, walked from Arnstadt to Lübeck, (a distance of about 400 kilometers), where he stayed for some time, in order to attend Abendmusiken, carefully listen to Diedrich Buxtehude, organist of exceptional fame, and understand his art. Scholars say that in Bach’s work, there are implicit influences from Buxtehude, whom he admired. Rightly then, the last concert of the series begins with a milestone piece of international repertoire, Bach’s “Musical Offering”. We will also hear G. F. Handel’s and Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerti grosso and passionate Luigy Bohhe’s Fandago, with purely guitarist sound, all of which constitute a challenge for the artistically concerned guitarists of Guitarte Ensemble and their audience.

[Nikos Chatzieleftheriou, Christos Faklaris, Fraggoulis Karagiannopoulos, Maria Papamichail, Anna Sartzidis]

Ticket price: 12 euros

St Paul’s Anglican Church – 27, Filellinon Str., Syntagma

Info: 210 9767984 [exclusively 10.00 (am) - 16:00 (pm)]
Production Organization: specs ‘n’ arts & Enastros