Lessons and Carols

On the night of December 14, one of the most anticipated Seabury events occured: the Lessons and Carols Concert. This concert, held at the First United Methodist Church, annually celebrates the beauty of the Christmas season and shares the talent of the choirs of Seabury with parents, students, and the wider community of Lawrence.

The concert began with multiple pieces performed by the Seabury Strings group, which is new to the school as of last year. These musicians were directed by Alla Aranovskaya, the founding first violinist of the St. Petersburg String Quartet, a Grammy-nominated group from Russia.

Each performance by the various choirs brought something unique to the concert. Voci Sesto, the sixth-grade choir, sang a sweet rendition of a song titled “Winter Lullaby,” while the Chamber Choir wowed the audience with multiple beautiful pieces, including a Seabury favorite, “All Bells in Paradise.” Both the middle school girls’ and boys’ choirs performed pieces such as “Tomorrow Shall be My Dancing Day” and “Saw You Never in the Twilight.”

“It was really fun,” says seventh grader Maya Svendson, who performed in Shea Maris, the choir for seventh and eighth grade girls. “The high school Chamber Singers are really good.”

Intermittently between choral performances were hymns sung with the audience, as well as scripture read by faculty and parents of the students. Concluding the concert was the song “Peace, Peace,” which every year is sung while the lights are dimmed and candles are lit, ending the service in a stunning moment of peace and togetherness.

“Peace, Peace is honestly very beautiful, just the candles and the ceremony, and all the value it has,” says junior Ethan Hall, who performed in the Chamber Singers choir. “Everybody just coming together shows unity and it’s really cool.”

It truly was, as stated by Headmaster Don Schawang in his opening remarks, the “loveliest night of the year.”