Key Takeaways
A simple December story
Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi is a Gloria-themed concert series in December 2025 by Luthers Bach Ensemble, held in four historic churches in the north of the Netherlands.
The program brings together Vivaldi’s Gloria in D, the Kyrie and Gloria from Bach’s Mass in B minor, Poulenc’s Christmas motets and a Corelli Christmas concerto, all played on period instruments with gut strings.
The concerts run from 18 to 21 December 2025 in Akerk Groningen, Koepelkerk Smilde, Martinikerk Sneek and Nicolaikerk Appingedam, at clear evening and afternoon times with mid-range ticket prices.
A small flyer on a checked cloth, a short Dutch language tip and one carefully chosen online video of the complete Mass in B minor make the series easy to remember and easy to find again with a simple digital task note.
Story & Details
One flyer, four dates and a glowing image
The story starts with a small glossy flyer. On the front, a nativity image shows a child, two parents and a soft circle of light. Above the scene stands the title “Kerst met Bach & Vivaldi”. In English this reads “Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi” and says clearly what the series is about: Christmas music with these two great composers at the centre.
Inside, short lines of text list four concerts in four churches. All are planned for December 2025, so at the start of the month the series still lies ahead. The first concert is on Thursday 18 December 2025 in Akerk in Groningen at 19:30 local time / 19:30 in the Netherlands. The second is on Friday 19 December 2025 in Koepelkerk in Smilde at 19:30 local time / 19:30 in the Netherlands. The third is on Saturday 20 December 2025 in Martinikerk in Sneek at 19:30 local time / 19:30 in the Netherlands. The last one is on Sunday 21 December 2025 in Nicolaikerk in Appingedam at 15:00 local time / 15:00 in the Netherlands.
The ensemble’s own site confirms this pattern in one simple block: the word “Gloria!” as a heading, then the same four dates, times and places in order, followed by the complete program list. Local cultural agendas and news items repeat the same facts. They speak of Luthers Bach Ensemble celebrating Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi in Akerk, and of the same program travelling on to Smilde, Sneek and Appingedam. A Groningen event guide even gives the Akerk concert a “must see” label for 18 December and lists its standard ticket at forty-five euros with a time window from 19:30 to 22:30 local time / 19:30 to 22:30 in the Netherlands.
Vivaldi, Bach, Poulenc and Corelli under one roof
The musical core of the series is built around the word “Gloria”. On the program page, four works stand side by side in a neat list.
The first is Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria in D, RV 589. It is a bright, compact piece for choir, soloists and orchestra. The opening movement bursts in with trumpets and strings and the word “Gloria” shouted in joy. Later sections slow down into warm, lyrical lines and quieter reflections, but the overall feeling remains festive and clear. Dutch announcements describe it as famous and joyful, a natural choice for a December celebration.
Next come the Kyrie and Gloria from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B minor, BWV 232. This Mass is a very large Latin setting, written across many years. The Kyrie has a darker, pleading tone with long, overlapping lines in the choir. The Gloria answers in a blaze of energy, with chorus, winds, strings and trumpets all moving in intricate patterns. Even when only these two sections are performed, listeners hear both deep seriousness and bright praise.
Francis Poulenc’s Four Motets for the Time of Christmas add a more modern voice. These short a cappella pieces move quickly between hushed moments and sudden flashes of light, matching scenes with shepherds, wise men and the manger. Concert texts in Sneek and Groningen present them as colourful and slightly surprising companions to Vivaldi and Bach.
Finally, the program includes Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerto Grosso in G, Op. 6 No. 8, marked “for the night of Christmas”. Its gentle, flowing string lines and calm final movement frame the choral works like an instrumental meditation.
Period instruments and the feel of gut strings
Luthers Bach Ensemble performs this program on period instruments. That choice shapes not only the look of the group on stage, but also the sound in the church.
String players use gut strings rather than modern steel or synthetic cores. Specialist guides explain that gut strings, made from carefully processed and twisted animal gut, have a sound that is delicate, slightly muted and warmly coloured. They are considered the classic, authentic stringing for baroque instruments and are described as having a tone that comes close to the human voice. A strings article notes that plain gut is mostly used for baroque instruments and that covered gut strings can have a powerful yet noble sound with plenty of richness.
A baroque cello essay describes how gut strings feel softer under the fingers and give a slightly slower start to the note, which helps long singing lines. The same text explains that modern wire-wound steel strings often promise to imitate the sound of gut because players still value that warmth and flexibility.
Woodwind and brass parts in these concerts are played on baroque versions of oboes, bassoons and trumpets. These instruments have fewer keys or, in the case of natural trumpets and horns, no valves at all. Players use breath and hand position to find each note. This gives sparkling high trumpet lines in the Gloria a bright but slightly rough edge, and it keeps textures light and transparent when choir and orchestra play together.
In the centre of the ensemble sits the continuo group: usually a harpsichord or small organ with cello and a bass instrument. This team builds harmony and rhythm from below. In the tall, stone spaces of Akerk, Koepelkerk, Martinikerk and Nicolaikerk, the combination of gut strings, baroque winds and natural brass lets the music fill the space without becoming heavy. Words stay clear, and dance-like rhythms remain easy to follow.
Times, tickets and simple practical details
While the flyer and online descriptions focus on music and mood, ticket pages give practical answers.
For the Akerk concert on Thursday 18 December 2025, a standard ticket costs forty-five euros and includes a program booklet, with doors opening forty-five minutes before the 19:30 start time local time / 19:30 in the Netherlands. A first-rank ticket with the best seats costs sixty euros, and there is also a youth ticket for people up to eighteen years of age at a reduced price.
Similar pages for Koepelkerk in Smilde show the same starting time of 19:30 local time / 19:30 in the Netherlands and a regular ticket just below forty euros, plus top-category seats close to the Akerk prices. Information from Martinikerk in Sneek and Nicolaikerk in Appingedam repeats the pattern: clear dates, clear times, clear price ranges, and the same program list of Vivaldi, Bach, Poulenc and Corelli.
These figures place Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi in the middle of the Dutch classical scene. It is not a free parish service, but it is also not an exclusive black-tie event. For many listeners, it can be one special evening or afternoon in the darkest weeks of the year.
A tiny Dutch language lesson in the title
The flyer title also hides a small and friendly language lesson. The word “Kerst” is the Dutch word for “Christmas”. The word “met” means “with”. Once these two words are known, “Kerst met Bach & Vivaldi” becomes easy to read for anyone who already knows the names of the composers. It simply says that the Christmas celebration happens with the music of Bach and Vivaldi.
This little hint has practical value. Using the exact Dutch title in an online search brings up the right event pages for Akerk, Koepelkerk, Martinikerk and Nicolaikerk, as well as news articles and social media posts about the series. It also helps readers recognise posters and agendas in Dutch city streets, even if their Dutch is still very basic.
The same flyers and posts show other languages mixing naturally: Latin words in lines such as “Gloria in excelsis Deo”, German titles for Bach’s Mass in B minor and French names for Poulenc’s Christmas motets. The result is a quiet lesson in how European sacred music has always moved between languages, long before it reached December concert calendars.
One Mass in B minor on screen
Behind the Kyrie and Gloria from Bach’s Mass in B minor performed in these concerts stands the full, long work. To explore the whole Mass without leaving home, there is one especially suitable video.
The Netherlands Bach Society runs a project called All of Bach, which aims to perform and record all of Bach’s works and share them online in free, high-quality videos. On the project’s site, the Mass in B minor appears as one of the major entries. The same performance is also available on the ensemble’s official YouTube channel, under the title “Bach – Mass in B minor BWV 232 – Van Veldhoven | Netherlands Bach Society”.
In this video, the Mass is played complete, with choir, soloists and a baroque orchestra in a large church. The camera moves gently between the musicians and the space, and the sound follows the Mass section by section, from the opening Kyrie to the final Dona nobis pacem. For anyone who sits in Akerk, Smilde, Sneek or Appingedam in December and hears only part of the Mass, this recording gives a way to continue the journey at home.
Keeping everything in one simple digital task
A paper flyer can be lost, folded into a coat pocket and forgotten. Online posts can sink down a timeline. One way to keep everything together is to copy the key details into a single, clear task in a simple to-do app.
A short, actionable title might be “Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi – Gloria 2025”. The description can note that Luthers Bach Ensemble plays Vivaldi’s Gloria in D, the Kyrie and Gloria from Bach’s Mass in B minor, Poulenc’s Christmas motets and Corelli’s Christmas concerto in four churches between 18 and 21 December 2025. A few lines of detail can record each date, each church and each starting time, along with ticket prices and the reminder that the performances use period instruments and gut strings.
At the end of the note, it is useful to add exact search terms, such as “Gloria RV 589”, “Mass in B minor BWV 232”, “Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël”, “Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 8” and “Luthers Bach Ensemble Gloria Akerk”. A link to the Netherlands Bach Society’s Mass in B minor video can sit beside them.
That one small task becomes a personal hub. It is easy to find months or years later, even if browsers have been cleared and printed programs have disappeared. With a single tap, it calls back the image of a flyer on a yellow-and-white cloth, shining trumpets in stone churches and the balanced mix of Vivaldi, Bach, Poulenc and Corelli in a cold northern December.
Conclusions
A bright line of music through a dark month
Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi draws a simple, bright line through the north of the Netherlands in December 2025. That line starts in Akerk in Groningen, travels to Koepelkerk in Smilde and Martinikerk in Sneek and ends in Nicolaikerk in Appingedam. Along it, the same Gloria-themed program repeats with new light each night and one calm Sunday afternoon.
The series joins familiar names and clear forms. Vivaldi’s Gloria sets the tone with sharp energy. Bach’s Kyrie and Gloria add depth and weight. Poulenc’s motets bring quick flashes of colour. Corelli’s concerto wraps the evening in gentle strings. Period instruments and gut strings shift the sound toward warmth and speech-like clarity, and clear ticket pages make the events easy to plan for regular listeners, not only for specialists.
With a small Dutch vocabulary tip and a single trusted online Mass in B minor as a partner at home, the concerts feel both local and connected to a wider musical world. The result is a Christmas offering that is simple to understand even for new listeners, yet rich enough to reward those who come back to this music year after year.
Selected References
[1] Luthers Bach Ensemble – main “Gloria!” project page with December 2025 schedule for Akerk Groningen, Koepelkerk Smilde, Martinikerk Sneek and Nicolaikerk Appingedam, plus full program list. https://luthersbachensemble.nl/
[2] Luthers Bach Ensemble – Akerk ticket page “LBE – Gloria – Antonio Vivaldi – Groningen – Akerk – 18 december 2025” with start time 19:30, duration to 22:30 and €45 regular and €60 first-rank tickets. https://luthersbachensemble.nl/event/lbe-gloria-antonio-vivaldi-groningen-akerk-18-december-2025-aanvang-1930-uur-reguliere-ticket-inclusief-programmaboekje-zaal-open-45-minuten-voor-aanvang-concert/
[3] Martinikerk Sneek – concert information page “Kerstconcert Luthers Bach Ensemble” summarising the Gloria program (Vivaldi, Bach Kyrie and Gloria, Poulenc motets) and listing the four dates, times and locations for December 2025. https://martinisneek.nl/kerstconcert-luthers-bach-ensemble/
[4] A-kwartier cultural agenda – entry for 18 December 2025, “Gloria! Luthers Bach Ensemble”, confirming Akerk as venue, 19:30 start and €45 price. https://a-kwartier.nl/culturele-agenda-akwartier-december-2025-januari-februari-2026/
[5] Stay in Groningen – “Christmas Concert: Vivaldi, Bach & Poulenc” event page for Thursday 18 December 2025, 19:30–22:30 in Akerk Groningen with €45 ticket price. https://www.stayingroningen.com/nl/events/christmas-concert-vivaldi-bach-poulenc
[6] Visit Groningen – “Kerst met Bach & Vivaldi” event description presenting the Christmas concert, its Gloria theme and its connection with “Gloria in excelsis Deo”. https://www.visitgroningen.nl/nl/doen/uitgaan/3639638802/kerst-met-bach-vivaldi-1
[7] Netherlands Bach Society – All of Bach project page explaining the plan to record and share all of Bach’s works online for free. https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach
[8] Netherlands Bach Society – complete Mass in B minor video “Bach – Mass in B minor BWV 232 – Van Veldhoven | Netherlands Bach Society” on the ensemble’s official YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FLbiDrn8IE
[9] Paganino – “What Materials Are Instrument Strings Made Of?” article explaining gut strings, their construction and their delicate, warm sound, and noting their classic role on baroque instruments. https://www.paganino.com/what-materials-are-instrument-strings-made-of/
[10] Paganino – “Strings: All You Need to Know About Choosing Strings” guide describing gut strings as traditionally made from animal intestines, with a voice-like sound and common use on baroque instruments. https://www.paganino.com/strings-all-you-need-to-know-about-choosing-strings/
[11] CelloBello – “On How to Play a Baroque Cello: Gut Strings (Part 1)” discussing the feel, response and sound of gut strings and comparing them with modern metal strings. https://cellobello.org/cello-blog/baroque/on-how-to-play-a-baroque-cello-gut-strings/
Appendix
Akerk
Akerk is a large historic church in the centre of Groningen that serves as both a place of worship and a concert space, and it hosts the first Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi concert on 18 December 2025 at 19:30 local time / 19:30 in the Netherlands.
Appingedam
Appingedam is a town in the north of the Netherlands whose Nicolaikerk hosts the final Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi concert on Sunday 21 December 2025 at 15:00 local time / 15:00 in the Netherlands.
Baroque instruments
Baroque instruments are original or replica instruments built or set up in the style of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, often using gut strings, lighter bows, wooden flutes, oboes with fewer keys and natural trumpets, to create a sound closer to what composers such as Bach, Vivaldi and Corelli would have heard.
Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi
Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi is the English name used here for the December 2025 Gloria-themed concert series by Luthers Bach Ensemble in which works by Vivaldi, Bach, Poulenc and Corelli are performed in four northern Dutch churches.
Google Tasks note
A Google Tasks note is a simple to-do entry that can contain a title, a short description, detailed text and search terms, making it a practical way to store all the key details of the Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi series in one easily searchable place.
Gut strings
Gut strings are strings for bowed instruments made from processed and twisted animal gut rather than metal or synthetic material, and they are known for a warm, delicate, slightly muted sound that suits baroque music and historically informed performance.
Kerst
Kerst is the Dutch word for Christmas and appears in the event title “Kerst met Bach & Vivaldi”, signalling that the concerts form a specific Christmas program rather than a general baroque series.
Koepelkerk
Koepelkerk is a domed church in Smilde in the north of the Netherlands and is one of the four venues for the Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi series, hosting the concert on Friday 19 December 2025 at 19:30 local time / 19:30 in the Netherlands.
Luthers Bach Ensemble
Luthers Bach Ensemble is a Groningen-based early music ensemble with a baroque orchestra and choir, founded in 2006, that specialises in historically informed performances of Bach and related composers and is responsible for the Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi concert series.
Martinikerk
Martinikerk is a main church in the town of Sneek that regularly hosts classical concerts and serves as the venue for the Saturday 20 December 2025 Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi performance at 19:30 local time / 19:30 in the Netherlands.
Mass in B minor
The Mass in B minor is a large Latin Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach, catalogued as BWV 232, whose Kyrie and Gloria movements appear in the Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi program and whose complete form can be heard in the Netherlands Bach Society’s video recording.
Netherlands Bach Society
The Netherlands Bach Society is a leading early music ensemble based in the Netherlands that runs the All of Bach project, recording and sharing Bach’s works online, and it provides the complete Mass in B minor video used to deepen the experience of the Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi concerts.
Nicolaikerk
Nicolaikerk is a historic church in the centre of Appingedam that hosts the closing Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi concert on Sunday afternoon, 21 December 2025, bringing the Gloria series to an end.
Period instruments
Period instruments are musical instruments built or set up with historical materials and techniques from the time of a work’s composition, and they influence the colour, balance and articulation of performances such as Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi.
YouTube choice
The YouTube choice is the Netherlands Bach Society’s complete Mass in B minor video, selected as the single institutional recording that allows listeners to explore the full work behind the Kyrie and Gloria movements heard live in the Christmas with Bach and Vivaldi series.
My Diary - Leonardo Cardillo 