For the second year running, the St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) Chorale teamed up with the choir from Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, East Meadow, NY. On Saturday the choirs performed “Lessons & Carols: Music of the Christmas Season from East & West” at Holy Trinity.
Under the direction of SVOTS Director of Music Robin Freeman and former faculty member Dr. Nicholas Reeves, Holy Trinity’s choir director, the combined choirs sang familiar carols and Orthodox liturgical hymns interspersed with readings from the Old and New Testaments. His Eminence, The Most Rev. Michael (Dahulich), archbishop of New York and the Diocese of New York and New Jersey (OCA), read one of the lessons and shared a homily at the event.
“This is a really unique collaboration and a beautiful model that other parishes could adopt as outreach during this time of the year," said Freeman.
“Singing at Lessons and Carols with Church of the Holy Trinity, East Meadow, is a highlight of the Nativity season for me,” said Kh. Cayce-Marie Halsell, who also sang last year. Her husband, Fr. Symeon, is a third-year seminarian.
“This concert is a beautifully poignant way of welcoming the Advent season and contemplating the awesome mystery of the incarnation,” she added. “With a wide variety of hymns and carols, from antique to contemporary, the program ushers us from the Old Testament prophesies of the Messiah and guides us towards the triumphant coming of our Lord as a humble infant. It truly inspires us to sing, ‘Joy to the World, the Lord has come!’”
Singers from St. Vladimir’s Seminary have one more outing before the end of the fall semester. On Thursday, December 12, members of the Seminary community will continue the tradition of Christmas caroling at Sunrise of Crestwood nursing home near campus. The gathering provides the SVOTS’ community a chance to share the joy of the Nativity in song with the residents there and to celebrate the end of the semester together.
