Letter: Old North Church Christmas Concert Resonates

Letter to the Editor:

This is regarding the Old North Church concert you listed under Event Notices.

We are new to Boston. Our family just moved here to North End. Most of our worldly possessions are in storage, which means the beautiful Christmas tree my husband brought home won’t shine as brightly or as colorfully as they have in the past. Like the locals, we have been wondering where winter is hiding. Like others, our young adult children live far from us and we miss them this holiday season. Our aging parents aren’t local and we miss them. While we are still settling in and getting acquainted with the local restaurants and people, we are nostalgic for our families and the magic of past Christmas seasons spent together.  Like other newcomers, we are trying to create a home here in this wonderful, enchanting city.

Not having ornaments and missing our families aren’t tragedies and by any measure we are beyond blessed. We’re becoming acquainted with the local businesses and the people in our neighborhood.  At the invitation extended by Reverend Ellie Terry and Vicar Stephen Ayres, we decided to attend the concert and hoped it would be a quaint evening spent in musical fellowship.

The best seats to any theater would pale in comparison to the concert given tonight at Old North Church. The musical gifts of lilting sopranos and booming basses, the rich mid tones of the altos all came together to create and deliver a stunning performance. The a cappella was powerful and passionate! The accompaniment was crisp and the stringed instruments alone took us on a journey. I sat mesmerized in the candlelit sanctuary with its aged air of solemnity. Their voices reached the rafters and into our hearts as they shared the joy of Christmas. The crescendos and diminuendos resounded off the walls.  Listening to the melodies offered up in song, their voices wove the story of baby Jesus and his mother, Mary in Celtic, Austrian and Spanish carols.  The evening was transformative. 

We found what we wanted for this Christmas in Boston.  It was a gift in the form of song.  We are home.

We would like to thank the following people for sharing in song and music the celebration of Jesus’ birth:

Dr. Libor Dudas • Anne Gwinn • Ivy Marr • Vanessa Schuss • Keith Taylor

Daniel Kurganov • Mason Yu • Aida Reke • Erica Tursi • Alexander Vavilov  Joey Gotoff • Tchavdar Nachev • Meghan Marranca • Virginia Morales

Jacquelyn Atti • Salvatore Atti • Susan Boyle • Jack Byrne • Lawson Daves

Samantha Dearborn • Jean Eisenstadt • Ryan Favorite

Sincerely,

Ali & Brad Flecke