Central Moravian Church to Present Advent and Christmas Concert Dec. 6
BETHLEHEM — Central Moravian Church will present its annual Advent and Christmas Concert on Dec. 6 at 1:30 p.m. in a program featuring choral and instrumental music to welcome the holiday season. The concert is free, and doors will open at 1 p.m.
“Central Moravian Church is happy to share this festive and reflective concert with our Lehigh Valley neighbors and visitors to Bethlehem,” says Becky Lepore, minister of music at Central Moravian Church. “It’s a time to relax and enjoy carols and fellowship as we prepare for the busy Christmas season.”
“We hope this gift to our community will help spread the message of God’s love through music and word as we gather in this historic church, which is listed with worldwide Moravian Church Settlements as a World Heritage site,” she adds.
The concert will include “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and “Skater’s Waltz” performed by Lepore on Central Moravian’s Möller Opus 8650 organ, with its four manuals, 109 ranks and 3,057 pipes
Central Moravian’s choir will perform “Morning Star in Darkest Night” by Georg Friedrich von Hellström (1825–1912), a Dutch Moravian composer, organist and violist. For 40 years, he served the Moravian congregation in Christiansfeld, Denmark, also part of the Moravian Church Settlements listed as a World Heritage site.
The choir will also perform “Festival Nowell” by American composer Dan Forrest (b. 1978) and “There Shall a Star” by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), part of his unfinished oratorio Christus, Op. 97. It has been performed at almost every Christmas Eve Vigil at Central Moravian Church since 1891.
Mainstreet Brass, ensemble in residence at Central Moravian, will perform two sets of carols, and the audience will be invited to join in singing hymns of the season, including the final verse of “Jesus Call Thou Me,” sung on Christmas Eve in 1741, when Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf named this new community, Bethlehem, and “Morning Star,” a cherished Moravian hymn by Francis Florentine Hagen (1815-1907), a Moravian bishop and composer born in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The concert will conclude with an organ and brass arrangement of Samuel Scheidt’s (1587-1654) “In dulci jubilo.”
About Central Moravian Church
Founded in 1742, Central Moravian Church is Bethlehem’s first congregation and the oldest Moravian Church in North America. Coming from a variety of backgrounds and traditions, the congregation today joins together to experience God’s love in a caring, respectful and inclusive atmosphere. Central Moravian Church emphasizes Christian faith, hope and love.
Central Moravian Church is situated in the newly inscribed UNESCO World Heritage site, recognizing the Moravian Church Settlements of Gracehill (Northern Ireland), Christiansfeld (Denmark), and Herrnhut (Germany), as well as Bethlehem.
With a rich, living musical tradition, Central Moravian Church presents a full schedule of concerts annually. Early American Moravians had close connections to their European roots and sought and performed contemporary music being composed in Europe. Haydn’s “The Creation” was performed for the first time in the United States in the sanctuary of Central Moravian Church in 1811, and the first complete performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor was presented at Central in 1900, thus giving Central Moravian Church status as a National Landmark of Music.
Visit https://www.centralmoravianchurch.org/season/advent-christmas/ for a complete listing of Advent and Christmas activities at Central Moravian Church.
Information provided to TVL by:
Bryan Hay
