Musikanten Montana announces the 16th annual Montana Early Music Festival January 18-21, featuring the Montana premiere of HIP (Historically Informed Performances) of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. The festival ensemble will perform the first three cantatas of the six the German master composed for the major church festival days of the 1734 Christmas Season in Leipzig. The concerts will open with Bach’s Advent Cantata 61 “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland.”

For the consecutive third year, the ensemble will travel to four Montana cities – Bozeman, Butte, Missoula and Helena. The final festival concert is in Helena at 4 pm on Sunday January 21h, at the Cathedral of St. Helena.

A 17-member chamber orchestra will play period instruments – Baroque oboes, bassoon and traversi (flutes), natural trumpets, gut strings and historic timpani – either actual 18th-century instruments or modern replicas. Players come from Early Music hotspots of Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, New York, Indianapolis, Denver and more. Leading the orchestra as concertmaster will be MEMF favorite Carrie Krause, concertmaster of the Bozeman Symphony, and member of Apollo’s Fire and other world-renowned Early Music ensembles. Organist Keith Reas and ‘cellist Sarah Stone are the continuo players. Vocal soloists are Amanda Balestrieri (soprano), Marjorie Bunday (contralto), Daniel Hutchings (tenor), and Rob W. Tudor (baritone), all specialists in “music before 1800.”

Musikanten Montana Artistic Director Kerry Krebill will conduct the vocal soloists, chamber orchestra and singers of Musikanten Montana in this joyous work. A special bonus for Helena audiences will be a chamber concert on Monday evening, January 22, at an historic upper west-side home.

Seating for the January 21st Cathedral concert is general admission, with a reserved section for Musikanten Angel donors ($100 and above); tickets will be available at the door -- $30 General Admission, $10 Students, with a Family Pass (maximum 5 persons) available for $75. Advanced sales at Birds & Beasley’s and Piccolo’s Music (get your ticket early and skip the line at the concert!). Call (406) 442-6825 or visit www.musikantenmt.org for more information