Apr 29, 2018
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

A dozen choral ensembles from Lexington, including the First Parish adult choir, will be raising their voices together in the 13th^th Annual Lexington Choral Festival on Sunday, April 29th at 3:00 p.m. hosted by St. Brigid Church. This year’s Festival features over 200 singers participating from 12 area churches, temples, and religious communities. Admission is free and open to the public.

“This year, the festival seems more crucial than ever,” says Festival organizer Mark Morgan, the Director of Music at Hancock Church, “in this time of seemingly ever increasing division in our country and across the world, the Festival sets an important, and very public, example of how we can come together and share our gifts and traditions with one another, rather than treat everyone as “the other.” This year’s festival encompasses a wide array of Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Unitarian communities. Each community shares songs of their own choice, then all will join together as one massed choir in the singing of The Heavens Are Telling from Haydn’s The Creation.

The Lexington Choral Festival was first held February 26, 2006 at the First Baptist Church of Lexington.  Minister of Music, Dr. Robert Eaton invited Lexington choirs to participate in an afternoon of sharing their musical talents and worship cultures with others in the community.  It featured performances by five area choirs, a combined performance of “The Gift of Love” and audience participation. The event was so well received it was decided to make it an annual event with different houses of worship hosting the Festival each year.

Participating this year are choirs and ensembles from the Bhakti Center of Lexington, Church of Our Redeemer Episcopal, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, First Baptist Church of Lexington, First Parish Unitarian Universalist, Hancock United Church of Christ, Pilgrim Congregational Church, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, St. Brigid Catholic Church, Temple Emunah, Temple Isaiah, and Trinity Covenant Church. A reception will follow the show, and all are invited to attend.

The concert will take place at St Brigid Church, 1981 Massachusetts Ave in Lexington. Admission to the concert is free and open to the public. Free parking is available and the church is handicap accessible.