The Saint Barnabas Choir—along with guest choristers—will present a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at the Anglican Church of Saint Barnabas (95 Lorne Avenue) on Friday, December 23 at 7:30pm.
The service will be presented in the traditional style of King’s College, Cambridge. The choir, conducted and accompanied by music directors Matthieu Latreille and Francine Nguyen-Savaria, will present Christmas carols and motets. The congregation is also invited to join in singing some all-time favourites.
For more than a decade, the Lessons and Carols were combined with a Sunday morning service during the Advent season at Saint Barnabas. After the breaks of 2020 and 2021 imposed by the pandemic, the music directors—who began their duties in March 2022—are taking this new start as an opportunity to offer the Festival of Lessons and Carols in its original form.
The service includes carols and Bible readings. The opening carol is always “Once in Royal David’s City,” and the first verse is traditionally sung by a soloist.
Events like this not only celebrate the spirit of the season, but allow us to take part in a beautiful tradition. It is also how some younger choristers become familiar with traditional carols that they have not heard before. “The idea of Christmas magic and enchantment is somewhat clichéd and overrated. And yet, the magic happens during the Festival of Lessons and Carols. Whether we believe in God or not, the Nativity story, and the music it inspired are always moving. In California, this service made us forget that there were flowers and palm trees outside!” says music director Matthieu Latreille.
This Festival of Lessons and Carols holds a special place in the music directors’ hearts. They confess that this service is what first attracted them to the Anglican Church, and something they have been dreaming of doing ever since they have discovered it. They have successfully presented several editions of this event at Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church in Claremont, California, and Saint Thomas’ Anglican Church in Belleville, Ontario.
They are delighted to offer this service in their home province of Quebec. They hope for a revival of this unique Anglican tradition on the South Shore of Montreal. “For the first time in our careers, we are offering a fully bilingual version of the Lessons and Carols,” explains Francine Nguyen-Savaria. “We worked to find a French translation of the Bible that matched the King James version in style and language, in addition to ensuring that the carols would be meaningful in a universal way. We are quite pleased with the outcome. It is beautiful to be able to make this Anglican tradition live in our multicultural metropolitan area.”
