A Christmas Oratorio closer to what Bach intended

Tomorrow night (3 December) Solomon's Knot, the baroque collective, returns to St John's Smith Square to perform parts I, IV, V and VI of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Following on from their chamber version of Handel's Messiah last year, they will be performing the Christmas Oratorio with just eight singers and 19 instrumentalists. All eight singers perform in the choruses as well as performing solo arias, they will be performing from memory. In terms of size and quality of performance, this is a welcome return to the sort of performance Bach would have recognised. 

Additionally the group is organised as a collective, rather than the usual top down structure. Christmas Oratorio will be performed without a conductor, with each member taking responsibility for the whole. You can hear an excerpt from their 2012 Messiah on YouTube.

They will be performing the Christmas Oratorio twice, at St. John's Smith Square on 3 December, and at Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge on 5 December. More information from the Solomon's Knot website.