Nuit Sacrée documents a televised concert that was broadcast on Christmas Day 2009 on France 2, one of the main French TV Channels, from St Thomas’s Church in Strasbourg. It features some of the finest sacred pieces linked to the festive season, and an impressive array of some of the best musicians of our time. Perhaps the major attraction is the multi-award winning chamber choir Accentus under its acclaimed conductor Laurence Equilbey. They are joined by the equally celebrated baroque specialist ensemble Concerto Köln and several outstanding vocal and instrumental soloists, among them soprano Sandrine Piau, contralto Nathalie Stutzmann, bass-baritone Johannes Weisser and cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton.

Founded by its current director Laurence Equilbey, Accentus is a professional chamber choir which appears in the leading concert halls and international festivals. The group collaborates regularly with prestigious conductors and orchestras (Pierre Boulez, Christoph Eschenbach, Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble intercontemporain, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Haute Normandie, Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik). The group’s recordings have received numerous prizes from the musical press, notably ‘Transcription”, Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross, Fauré’s Requiem with members of the Orchestre National de France, and ‘Strauss a cappella’ with the Latvian Radio Choir. Accentus records exclusively for Naïve.