An Advent Festival of Lessons & Music

Join us for this beloved Anglican service of scriptural readings, prayers, and music to prepare for the coming of Christ. The program features the Calvary Cathedral Choir and organist Diane Van Den Oever. Guest vocalist is Calvary Choir alumnus, tenor Eric Wassenaar, now of Chicago. We also welcome the principal oboist for the South Dakota Symphony, Jeffrey Paul, and the string quartet from the South Dakota Symphony. Calvary Cathedral’s Advent Festival of Lessons & Music is an adaptation of a service begun in England in 1880, based on a medieval vigil service. King’s College, Cambridge, has held its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols since 1918. Now, an estimated 370 million people worldwide listen to the annual BBC broadcast of the service on Christmas Eve. The service will be led by the Very Rev. Ward Simpson, dean of Calvary Cathedral. The music program is under the direction of Canon Precentor Dr. Monty Barnard, music director and choir conductor at Calvary Cathedral since 1987. D