The 42nd annual Old North Festival Chorus Christmas Concerts as part of Marblehead’s Christmas Walk will take place on Dec. 3 at 8 p.m., and Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary of the historic Old North Church Meeting House, 35 Washington St. This year’s Chorus totals over one hundred participants.
Tickets are priced at $30 and may be purchased in advance—online at www.oldnorthfestivalchorus.org and in person at Arnould Gallery or Crosby’s Marketplace. Tickets will also be sold at the door before each performance.
Highlights of the December 2022 Festival Chorus Concerts—for chorus and full orchestra—include: Missa in Angustiis by Franz Joseph Haydn; A Musicological Journey through the Twelve Days of Christmas, by Craig Courtney; and arrangements of seasonal music for chorus and orchestra with audience participation.
Featured soloists include, Holly Cameron, soprano; Gabriela Fagen, mezzo-soprano; Frankie Campofelice, tenor; and Michael Galvin, baritone. The Old North Festival Orchestra, Soloists, and 70-voice Chorus will be led by Maria van Kalken, Minister of Music at Old North Church, who celebrates her 34th season as Director of the Festival Chorus.
The Festival Chorus gathers Old North’s Senior Choir together with enthusiastic singers from many neighboring communities in Marblehead. Director Maria van Kalken holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Oberlin and New England Conservatories of Music—primarily under the tutelage of Yuko Hayashi and the late Donald Teeters—and has amassed an education abroad in Amsterdam, Holland and Pistoia, Italy.
To reserve tickets in advance by telephone, or for additional information, please call 781-608-2782; information is also available on the Old North Festival Chorus website: www.oldnorthfestivalchorus.org.
While ticket buyers are encouraged to wear masks at these public performances, masks are optional. Old North Church is accessible for the physically impaired.
The Old North Festival Chorus is supported, in part, by a grant from the Marblehead Cultural Council as administered through the Massachusetts Cultural Council.