weihnachtsoratorium

Why does an ensemble that has earned its fame primarily with rarities of early music and new to the very latest music devote itself to the most successful oratorio of the Baroque era? The mainstream work of Christmas music par excellence?

The answer from Ensemble Resonanz would probably be sparse and honest: "Because Christmas without »WO« is only half the story."

Because no matter how often you have heard and played the »WO«: you want to hear it and play it again and again. And the work, with its six parts and 64 numbers, is so extensive that anyone can distill their own concert version from it.

In the case of Ensemble Resonanz, this turned into: House music among friends. After the ensemble had finally found a permanent home of its own in the »resonanzraum« in St. Pauli, it seemed to concertmaster Juditha Haeberlin and the other musicians that it was time to bring Bach’s oratorio, which is associated with so many memories for each of them, home with them appropriate for the ensemble. Now, for the Ensemble Resonanz, “making it your own” means questioning every note, examining every convention and staging every musical tense as a pure present. Always with respect - and always with dedication, because they can't do it any other way.