Photo Gallery: Bicentennial Festival of Lessons and Carols Celebrates Holiday Season

Trinity College hosted its 64th annual Christmas Festival of Lessons and Carols in the Chapel on Sunday, December 10, at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., marking the beginning of the holiday season for the Greater Hartford community.

Lessons and Carols is offered to all as a moment of comfort and hope. In its recounting of the Christmas story, the service involves the reading of nine lessons, each followed by the singing of a carol. Contributions to a freewill offering supported students in need, as well as international humanitarian relief efforts.

This year’s special Bicentennial event featured a newly commissioned work by David Hurd, a setting of a portion of Psalm 96, “Sing to the Lord a New Song,” dedicated to Trinity College Board of Trustees Chair Lisa Bisaccia ’78 and Robert Naparstek, whose generosity has supported the Chapel Music Program. The program also featured music by alumni and community composers Paul Lindsley Thomas ’50; Dudley Buck, Class of 1859; Robert Edward Smith, Chapel composer-in-residence since 1979; and Douglas Bruce Johnson, professor of music, emeritus.

Listen to a recording of the music from the service here.

To read this year’s full program, click here.

The festival was the first event at the Chapel to showcase a new silver-topped staff donated by Trinity alumnus Brendan W. Clark ’21.