Christmas Concert

Tuesday, December 16, 2025, 8:30 PM

Estimated Run Time: 1 hour

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris

Christmas is that special holiday when music, whose role is usually to open up space above, finds itself not ascending to heaven but descending. Angels gaze down at Earth, their hearts set on the horizon: they form a circle, just like the small group in Bethlehem around the newborn baby.
Thus Christmas music, as it has been conceived over the centuries by giving voice to angels, is the meeting point between earth and heaven. The picturesque narration of this celebration of childhood in the Gospels provided a lighthearted atmosphere that popular art quickly seized upon. The Bethlehem nativity scene became Provençal, Neapolitan, Scandinavian, and everywhere and throughout the ages, it is sung about. Popular tunes multiplied and spread, following the example of the famous Silent Night and Angels We Have Heard on High. Then the great musical eras came to permeate these traditional tunes: Gregorian chant and medieval music left their mark on the joyful melodies of the Nativity. The universality of Christmas continues to inspire even contemporary composers, and if there is one thing all these works have in common, it is the humility shared in celebrating the joy of the Nativity.

Photo by ©Léonard de Serres

Program

Traditional Christmas carols

Cast

Maîtrise Notre Dame de Paris
Yves Castagnet, organ
Thibault Fajoles, grand organ
Émilie Fleury et Henri Chalet, conductors

Download the program