MDR-Weihnachtskonzert: ¡Navidad!

In the organizer's words:

MDR Symphony Orchestra
MDR Radio Choir
Marta Mathéu - soprano
Joan Martín-Royo - Baritone
Josep Vila i Casañas - Conductor

Joan Lamote de Grignon (1872-1949)
Nit de Nadal (Christmas Eve)

as well as Christmas compositions
by Antoni Ros-Marbà, Juan José Colomer, Francesc Civil
and Josep Vila i Casañas

Josep Vila i Casañas, the new chief conductor of the MDR Radio Choir, captures the spirit of Christmas with music from various regions of Spain. The main work of the concert is Nit de Nadal (Christmas Eve), an oratorio by one of Catalonia's most important composers and musicians, Joan Lamote de Grignons. He wrote it at the turn of the 20th century to poems by the Catalan Francesc Casas i Amigó and combined folk music elements and post-Wagnerian style to create a moving, musically late-romantic narrative about the events of Christmas Eve.