Dominik Wörner, a prizewinner at the Bach International Competition in Leipzig in 2002, established the Kirchheimer BachConsort in 2008. Its members, leading musicians from the early music scene, perform as an ensemble of soloists in programs focusing on the repertoire of the eighteenth century. On this brand-new CD release Wörner leads his ensemble and the Czech soprano and harpist Hana Blažiková in interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach’s dialogue cantatas.

In 2014, Bruce began a project together with Czech soprano Hana Blažíková to explore the affinity of the cornetto and the human voice. The project was called Breathtaking: A Cornetto and a Voice Entwined. With the program that evolved from that project, Bruce and Hana recorded a CD for the Passacaille label and toured the world performing the program more than forty times in North America, Europe and Australia. In order to make the touring financially viable, they have paired with backup ensembles in Europe, the USA and Australia.

In the rich musical life of early 18th century Prague, the Advent and Christmas seasons formed a chapter unto themselves. Their specific repertoire consisted not only of the themes of this liturgical season (including a strong element of the Marian cult), but also of special liturgical and musical forms. In both songs and figural music Czech suddenly appeared side by side with Latin, along with elements of folk religion and culture.

The Magnificat, written to celebrate Mary’s joy after the Annunciation, and the oldest Christmas Cantata of Bach (Weimar, 1713), are an overwhelming fresco of a Nativity, foundation of the world. With these masterful works, Johann-Sebastian Bach opens for us the gates of the sacred, as well as the ones to our own relationship with spirituality. These pieces, amongst the most beautiful ever composed, are no doubt the best way possible to open the Christmas period. Led here by the very young but nonetheless inspired, Valentin Tournet who conducts his ensemble La Chapelle Harmonique.

The Missa Votiva, ZWV 18, of Czech-German composer Jan Dismas Zelenka was written in 1739, late in Zelenka's life. It has something in common with the String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132, of Beethoven: both are late works written as prayers of thanksgiving after their respective composers' recovery from serious illness. And, although the Zelenka work is virtually unknown, both are staggering masterpieces. The more Zelenka's music surfaces, the more he appears a major composer of the late Baroque; he was probably ignored for so long because his life story, during eras when audiences loved to have biographies on which to hang music, is largely obscure.

The young Czech soprano Hana Bla íkóva is currently one of the most exciting voices in the baroque scene today. After receiving her final diploma at the Conservatory of her native city Prague in 2002, the singer very rapidly gained an excellent reputation as a baroque interpreter. Conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Masaaki Suzuki and Vaclav Luks frequently invite her for CD recordings, concerts and tours. She regularly appears at renowned festivals including Prague Spring, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Resonances in Vienna and the Early Music Days in Regensburg.

Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) Officium defunctorum ZWV 47 – Requiem in D ZWV 46 (Music for the funeral rites of Augustus the Strong) Jan Dismas Zelenka’s music for the funeral rites of Augustus the Strong – Officium defunctorum ZWV 47 (Invitatorium, Nocturno I-III) and Requiem ZWV 46 – reveals the most impressive face of the Baroque theatre of death. The man in the chief role of this spectacle follows the appeal in the 95th psalm of the introductory antiphon of the invitatorium “the King, in whom everything lives, let us worship Him”, and bows his head before God and the majesty of death.

By the time J.S. Bach began composing, Martin Luther’s Reformation had profoundly altered the Church’s traditional form of worship. In German churches, the customary Latin had been replaced with the country’s native language, although the Latin mass text -particularly the Kyrie and Gloria portions - remained in Protestant church music. These "incomplete" mass settings were named "Missa." Today, these compositions are frequently referred to as "Lutheran Masses."

It is remarkable that Theodora, this gem of an Oratorio, whose musical quality Handel himself considered to be particularly outstanding, seems to be largely unknown to professional musicians and the expert audience. This is even more astonishing as this masterpiece (in the versions of its first performance lasting nearly three hours) is definitely an absolute highlight of Handel’s creative work, not least because of its splendidly differentiated orchestration and the psychologically sensitive presentation of its protagonists.

In the 16th and 17th centuries the vast majority of images of cornetto players are depictions angel musicians, often in the company of angelic voices, viols, violins, trombones, organs and harps. Taking this image as a point of departure, Hana Blažíková and I, following the success of our project “Breathtaking”, have developed and recorded a new program around the pairing of the voice and the cornetto. Once again we explore the wonderful way the voice and cornetto can play off of each other in diverse repertoires from the 17th century to the present day.

The prizewinning Boston Early Music Festival, joined by the choicest soloists, once again presents a spectacular Baroque opera discovery with Christoph Graupner’s Antiochus and Stratonica. Graupner composed the musical play L’Amore Ammalato, Die kranckende Liebe, oder: Antiochus und Stratonica during his time as the harpsichordist at the Gänsemarkt Opera in Hamburg. The core subject of the opera is the love of the Seleucid prince Antiochus for his stepmother Stratonica. This match brings with it highly dramatic moments as well as deeply sad ones inasmuch as Antiochus is supposed to have an incurable illness – but then at the end three old and new romantic couples appear on the stage and everything comes to a happy ending.

Here are some prime works by Vivaldi that are not hot from a recording studio, but bring a new Nibiru title to our catalogue. They feature Ensemble Inegal and Prague Baroque Soloists conducted by Adam Viktora, who are legendary for their performances of music by Zelenka.
We know lots about him, but it is unclear if Antonio Vivaldi ever actually visited the Czech lands - Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Certainly his music was circulating there, as some of his operas appeared in Prague. The four extensive choral and vocal pieces on this disc - Dixit Dominus, RV 595, Laudate Pueri Dominum, RV 600, Magnificat, RV 610b (Czech Version), and Salve Regina, RV 617 - were in the music libraries of wealthy families or religious institutions.

The young Czech soprano Hana Blažíkóva is one of the most exciting voices in the baroque scene. Conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Masaaki Suzuki and Vaclav Luks frequently invite her for CD recordings, concerts and tours. She regularly appears at renowned festivals including Prague Spring, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Resonances in Vienna and the Early Music Days in Regensburg.