“A Festival of Lessons and Carols for Christmas”, will take place on Sunday, December 15 at 4pm at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City. The service is free and open to all. The full Cathedral Choirs will perform favorite and familiar carols in addition to some lesser-known works from around the world.
Lessons & Carols is modeled on the service as developed at King’s College, Cambridge, UK. It traditionally begins with the carol Once in Royal David’s City sung by a solo boy or girl chorister, then joined by all. Lessons & Carols was first done in the cathedral in 1953, making this the 71st anniversary.
The Cathedral Choristers, a group of twenty boys and girls, will feature prominently at Lessons & Carols. The choristers, at their strongest in many years, will join with the adult singers in a wide variety of works. The choristers also join in singing all the descants (the high voice above a tune) and most of the other carol settings.
The carols performed by the choirs include the Ukrainian Carol “Today in Bethlehem”, sung in its original language as a tribute to the people of Ukraine during this time of war. Also included will be arrangements of traditional carols from England, Germany, France, Canada and the United States.
Larry Tremsky, Director of Music at the cathedral, explains “we put a lot of energy and effort into our music program, and especially at Christmas. We sing carols this year in English, Latin, and Ukrainian; past years have also included German, French and Spanish. Our boy and girl choristers are up to the challenge, since we work extensively with them both on music-reading skills as well as vocal training. Last year we had a contest for the choristers to learn the Ukrainian text of Carol of the Bells by memory; several of the kids still remember it, perfectly! Hearing a ten-year old boy who’s not of Slavic origin say a text in nearly perfect Ukrainian, from memory, is quite amazing. It’s the ability to do cool things like this that make our work together so satisfying.”
The service usually fills the cathedral to its 400-seat capacity, with standing room only. It is suggested to arrive at least 30 minutes before the service begins. For questions on the program, contact the cathedral office at cathedral@incarnationgc.org.