Marc-Antoine Charpentier is a French composer of the Baroque era. By his contemporaries, he was most appreciated for his compositions on religious topics. His most popular work is the orchestral introduction to Te Deum, which has become an official signal of Eurovision. However, the output of Charpentier includes many other intriguing compositions.

Andrzej Kosendiak will conduct two works by Charpentier devoted to the theme of Christmas.  The In nativitatem Domini canticum H 416 is a late work, completed in 1690. This raw and serious composition perfectly reflects the majesty and splendour of the Saviour’s birth.

The six-movement Messe de minuit pour Noël H 9 is nothing but the Midnight Mass, a mass to be celebrated at midnight, commemorating the waiting and prayers of shepherds going to Bethlehem. The mood of this Charpentier composition is varied. The listener will find here both charming fragments based on singing melodies, as well as episodes full of profound solemnity. Like the previous work, the mass was composed around 1690.