Les Arts Florissants: Charpentier at Christmas

Step back into a Grand Siècle Christmas, as William Christie directs Les Arts Florissants in some of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s most invigorating but rarely performed Nativity music. Over the past 40 years, William Christie and his group have become a byword for lively and accomplished performances of Baroque music, with more than a sprinkling of Gallic joie-de-vivre. Who better to start our festivities than the ensemble known for their intuitive interpretations of Charpentier’s sparkling music?

Kick off your Christmas with the brief but beautiful Antiennes ‘O’ de l’Avent, interwoven with two instrumental Noëls, as they would have been incorporated into 17th century French Advent liturgy. Les Arts Florissants will lift all our spirits as the angels share the news of Jesus’ imminent birth in Charpentier’s colourful oratorio In Nativitatem Domini canticum, with its particularly jubilant depiction of the shepherds’ journey to Jerusalem.