Home News & Opinion From the Magazine Holy music heritage: Atlanta Boy Choir keeps tradition strong with holiday concert
Holy music heritage: Atlanta Boy Choir keeps tradition strong with holiday concert
Alumni will rejoin the group for the Monastery of the Holy Spirit's December show
Courtesy of Atlanta Boy Choir
Tradition may not matter to the typical preteen, but for members of Atlanta Boy Choir, it's fundamental. For three decades, the choir—seventy boys, ranging in age from six to thirteen, and forty alumni—has celebrated the holiday season at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers. The program for this year spans centuries, with songs in Latin, Hebrew, and Old English. Completed in 1960 by resident monks, the church complements the concert's reverent mood. "There's not a more appropriate space," says Neil Cardwell, choir administrator. "The monastery is built for choral music." The concert wraps up a whirlwind year for the choir, which this summer performed in Warsaw, Krakow, and Prague, where they debuted "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," a song about the Terezín concentration camp.
The Atlanta Boy Choir Holiday Concert, December 12, Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Conyers, atlantaboychoir.org
This article originally appeared in our September 2014 issue under the headline "Holy Music Heritage."
Atlanta Boy Choir