Sir John Eliot Gardiner leads the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras and the English Baroque Soloists in a radiant performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Now available to stream free of charge at stage.plus/Oratorio. | STAGE

Every year classical music radio stations come together to celebrate Christmas with a feast of concerts from across Europe. On BBC Radio 3, Andrew McGregor and Hannah French present a nine-hour celebration of Christmas around Europe, beginning at 12pm on Sunday. Listen live or afterwards on BBC Sounds. | BBC Radio 3

STAGE+ on Instagram: "Sir John Eliot Gardiner leads the @monteverdi_choir_orchestras and the English Baroque Soloists in a radiant performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Now streaming on #StagePlus."

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is one of the true treasures of the sacred choral repertoire. It was in 1734 in Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church where the Oratorio was first performed and it is in the same church that Gotthold Schwarz, the seventeenth Thomaskantor (St. Thomas Church music director) brings the masterpiece once more to life with his elite boy’s choir, the Thomanerchor Leipzig, and Leipzig’s Gewandhausorchester. Watch them perform the Part I of Bach’s Oratorio, “For the First Day of Christmas