Baroque Christmas with candlelight

Picture yourself sitting in a circle around the musicians, with candles illuminating the church with silhouettes while the musicians play soft instruments, organ and lute, and four singers present some of the most beautiful Christmas music from German and European music of the 16th and 17th centuries. Traditionally, we at Barokkanerne strive to create a very special Christmas concert for you as the audience, and 2026 is no exception in this regard. In the generation of German composers before Johann Sebastian Bach, we find among the best composers Michael Pretorius, Nicolas Bruhns, Dietrich Buxtehude, and Christian Geist. It is beautiful and intimate, jubilant and swinging, filled with an indescribable joy and beauty in celebrating the joyful message of Christmas. This year, Barokkanerne's instrumentalists and vocal ensemble are ready to give you as the audience a very special experience at Majorstua Church, all under the direction of Jadran Duncumb. Soloists and Artistic Director Ditte Marie Bræin received her education from the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she studied under the guidance of Mona Julsrud, Svein Bjørkøy, and Randi Stene. She has established herself as one of the most versatile and interesting young singers in Norway, sought after both as an ensemble singer and a soloist. Ditte has gained extensive experience in baroque, classical, and contemporary music. She has performed outside of Norway with contemporary ensemble asamisimasa and the DR Vocal Ensemble, and in 2013 she was affiliated with the cultural exchange organization Transposition for a production of Handel's Messiah at the opera house in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She has been a soloist with most cathedral choirs in Norway and collaborated with conductors like Peter Dijkstra, Paul Agnew, Ottavio Dantone, and Grete Pedersen. Ditte has contributed to numerous CD recordings, including with the Norwegian Soloists' Choir, where she has been a regular singer since the autumn of 2012. She was awarded a scholarship from the Sine Butenschøn Foundation in 2017. Anders J. Dahlin is a Swedish tenor. He began his studies at the Conservatory of Music in Falun, Sweden, and continued at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where he completed further education in the soloist class under Professor Kirsten Buhl Møller. He has received significant recognition for his performances as an evangelist in Bach's passions and as a tenor soloist in Britten's Serenade. Today, he is a soloist with a number of prominent ensembles and conductors. In 2014, he was honored with the prestigious Jussi Björling Prize. Anders Jerker Dahlin is considered one of the foremost light tenors of his generation and regularly works with conductors like Christophe Rousset, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, René Jacobs, Marc Minkowski, and Philippe Herreweghe. Halvor Festervoll Melien is a concert and opera singer performing across Europe. He has a broad concert repertoire ranging from 18th-century music to entirely new works and has devoted significant time to Bach's music. Halvor has worked with all the Norwegian symphony orchestras and with ensembles such as BBC Philharmonic, Les Talens Lyriques, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Denmark's Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Sinfonietta, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and Barokkanerne. From 2015 to 2016, he was part of the soloist ensemble at The Norwegian Opera & Ballet. He has contributed to several CD recordings, including Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins with the Oslo Philharmonic, John Frandsen's Requiem with Denmark's Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Knut Vaages' Høgsongen. Halvor has premiered works written for him by Ørjan Matre, Lisa Streich, Eivind Buene, and Øyvind Mæland. The lied genre is also central to his work, and he is currently part of several song duos. Barokkanerne, with its artistic director, lutenist Jadran Duncumb, is Norway's leading baroque ensemble. With an informal and refreshing approach, we renew the way baroque music is performed and presented – alwa