New York Estonian Mixed Choir after the Christmas concert at the NY Lutheran Church on Lexington and 88th Street. Photo by Al Brownell

What a beautiful way to celebrate the 2nd Sunday of Advent!  We heard the Christmas message preached in the Estonian language, we sat in the midst of Estonian friends and family, and we all joined voices in singing a few beautiful and traditional Estonian Christmas carols, adeptly accompanied by organist Erik Veski.

The recently combined Men’s and Women’s Choruses created a musical atmosphere that was seasonal, nostalgic and heartwarming. The 14 women and 7 men, under the expert direction of maestro Andrejs Jansons, created a pure and lovely tone that resonated beautifully from the balcony and floated gently down over the congregation sitting below. The four-part acapella harmonies were well tuned and there was nice variety in the tempi, the lyrics and the tonalities of the selected pieces – some secular, some spiritual, some traditional and some more recently composed.  The choral portion of the service concluded with a sensitively performed “Meie Isa Palve” by A. Thomson.

The choir sang a few additional numbers downstairs in the fellowship hall as we all enjoyed a delicious traditional Estonian feast prepared by Tuula Malmi.

It was a beautiful and musical advent celebration!

Mall Kiil