Just before Christmas on December 18th, the Residentie Bachkoor will sing a Hague version of the traditional English Christmas celebration , “Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols,” at the Nieuwe Badkapel. The Christmas concert is a festive and meaningful combination of familiar and new Christmas music from all eras and in all languages. Lada Šoljan, human rights lawyer and sought-after speaker, will read texts about Christmas, peace, and security. Visitors can sing along to several well-known carols. A perfect evening to get into the Christmas spirit with friends and family.
Journey through music history
From the refined Christmas motet “Hodie Christus natus est” by the 16th-century Dutch composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck to the sweet carol “What sweeter music” by the contemporary British composer Rutter. Felix Mendelssohn, Francis Poulenc, and Gustav Holst also wrote atmospheric music for Christmas. Of course, well-known Christmas carols such as “O come all ye faithful , ” “Eer zij god in onze dagen” (Holy Mother in Our Days) , and “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” (Es ist ein Ros entsprungen) are also included. Christmas at its finest.
Music interspersed with appropriate lyrics
The music is connected by texts about Christmas, peace, and security by Hague poets and writers such as Constantijn Huygens and Godfried Bomans. Lada Šoljan, a human rights lawyer based in The Hague and a sought-after speaker, will read the texts. Šoljan explains: “I myself come from Croatia, a country deeply affected by war in the 1990s. That’s precisely why I came to work in The Hague, the city of peace and justice. What a joy to be able to share the message of ‘peace on earth, good will toward men’ with the audience through thoughtfully chosen texts during this wonderful concert.”
First Christmas concert of the new conductor
Geerten van de Wetering accompanies the Residentie Bachkoor on the organ. The choir also sings a cappella, unaccompanied. The young, enthusiastic conductor Rodrigo Lluch, successor to Jos Vermunt, conducts this atmospheric festival of The Hague Lessons & Carols. He is conducting his first Christmas concert. The concert will take place in the Nieuwe Badkapel in The Hague (Scheveningen), where the audience will be seated around the choir members. An intimate setting to kick off the holidays. The Hague Lessons & Carols is a program to listen to, be moved by, and even sing along to. Christmas 2025 begins with the Residentie Bachkoor!
– Thursday, December 18 at 8 p.m. in the Nieuwe Badkapel in Scheveningen.
· – Tickets: normal price €27.50 / youth price and Stork Pass €10.00.
Tickets can be ordered via: https://bachensembles.nl/tc-events/lessons-carols-kerstconcert-rbk/