Solomon's Knot Opens Wigmore Hall's Christmas Season With Bach's MAGNIFICAT

Solomon's Knot will open the Christmas Season at London's Wigmore Hall on Thursday 7 December, 2023 performing Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnificat, 300 years after the work was premièred by the composer in Leipzig, on Christmas Day, 1723.   

Solomon's Knot's first performance at Wigmore Hall since it became the venue's Baroque Ensemble in Residence, the concert launches Bach 300 a major series featuring Bach's music performed by Solomon's Knot 300 years after its Leipzig première which will form part of the group's three-concert Residency every year.  

The music that Bach composed for Leipzig's Lutheran congregations, from 1723 when he assumed the position of Thomaskantor in the city until his death in 1750, continues to hold a significant presence in church services globally. Encompassing hundreds of cantatas, organ works, and his renowned larger-scale choral works, it remains profoundly influential and stands as a cornerstone of our cultural heritage.  

John Gilhooly, Director of Wigmore Hall, said, “I'm delighted  to have Solomon's Knot on board as our first Baroque Ensemble in Residence. Their performance of the Bach Christmas Magnificat will be a major highlight of Wigmore Hall's Christmas season. We look forward to Solomon's Knot taking our audiences on new journeys with Bach's music over the coming seasons.”  

Alongside Bach's original 1723 Magnificat (BWV243.1), complete with four German Christmas hymns, Solomon's Knot performs the cantatas Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! (BWV70) and O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (BWV60). Bach revised the Magnificat in the early 1730s, removing the Christmas interpolations and transposing the work into D major, creating the version most often performed today (BWV243.2).  

Wigmore Hall's Christmas Season features leading vocal ensembles including Voces 8, Siglo de Oro and Stile Antico performing everything from Renaissance polyphony to 21st century choral works. There is more Bach from The London Handel Players, lunchtime concerts from bass-baritone Sir Willard White and vocal ensemble The Sixteen and a New Year's Eve concert with Les Arts Florissants and Sir William Christie. Full details can be found here: https://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/series/christmas-at-wigmore-hall   

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