(Above) Tony Alvaro conducts and prepares the Camillus Community Choir.
Beloved Christmas program will be held at Our Lady of Hope Parish
By Dc. Tom Cuskey, editor
Change opens doors to new opportunities and sometimes a new home for old traditions.
When Tom Andino left Le Moyne College after a 20-year career in campus ministry, he carried many fond memories and warm relationships with him. In addition to being named director of Deacon Formation for the Diocese of Syracuse, he continues his role as music director at St. Michael’s/St. Peter’s Parish on Onondaga Hill and Our Lady of Hope in Syracuse’s Valley neighborhood. Now, his musical past is about to catch up with him as a popular holiday event gains new life.
A previous Lessons and Carols at Le Moyne College. The production has moved, along with Tom Andino, its director, to Our Lady of Hope Church in Syracuse.
“Lessons and Carols,” a popular Christmas offering that drew large crowds to the Jesuit campus will be offered in its grand tradition at Our Lady of Hope Church on December 15.
One can thank Father Michael Galuppi for the inspiration. The pastor of St Michael’s/St. Peter’s and Our Lady of Hope, as well as a Le Moyne alumnus, Father Michael didn’t attend the musical event as a student there, but after attending several of the more recent performances, he now brings a definite enthusiasm to this relocated opportunity.
When Andino departed Le Moyne, it was at Father Galuppi’s suggestion that the event might find a new home at Our Lady of Hope. “I was immediately hooked,” Father said. “It is one of the most uplifting, beautifully produced, Scripturally complete and musically edifying celebrations of Christmas that I have ever attended, and so I invited Tom to hold it here at Our Lady of Hope.”
Like the Nativity, it started small
The original production had very humble beginnings.
“When I got to Le Moyne 20 years ago, people were doing all kinds of things and calling it Lessons and Carols,” Andino said. He shared that the original model for Lessons and Carols started in 1880 at King’s College in Cambridge, England. “It follows a format of a set reading and a carol, and a set reading and a carol, and so on.
That’s the back of Tom Andino at the right, in his finest holiday sport coat, directing the choir in a Christmas melody.
“I remember the first year we did it. I had five singers and 30 people came,’” he said. “And over time, it started to grow.”
He recalls a big boost in the program one year when he found two new songs and two dynamic singers to perform them. The songs were called, “Joseph’s Song” and “Someday” and they are still part of the ceremony 15 years later.
“Once I found those, I thought, ‘What if, instead of following the traditional format, we update the event and tried to look at the humanity of the characters in the Christmas story, and what they’re feeling.”
That path resulted in a Christmas story that encompasses the Nativity narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, including the arrival of the Magi and the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt. In the updated format, the number of participants grew, and the audience did as well.
“We had to turn the room configuration around to fit more people, both for the choir and the congregation. The production value got bigger, and it went from being just a campus ministry program to gaining the attention of administrators, faculty, staff and neighbors,” he said. “The tension for me was how do you create something that feels like a tradition and yet has some newness each year and I accomplished that by collaborating with groups from the Performing Arts Center, most notably the student-run a cappella group, Fermatta Nowhere, and the Jazzuits, vocal jazz ensemble.”
The production features some solo and small group performances blended with full production numbers from a combined choir totaling nearly 100 voices.
And new collaborations are in place for this year’s event. Our Lady of Hope Church on South Salina Street in Syracuse’s Valley neighborhood is the new venue. The combined choirs of St. Michael’s/St. Peter’s and Our Lady of Hope will be joined by the Camillus Community Choir as well as vocalists from Holy Cross Church in Dewitt and St. Joseph’s Church in Camillus. Popular local musician Todd Hobin and instrumentalists are also part of this year’s program. Josh Corcoran, music director at Holy Cross Church and head of the diocesan liturgy office, will support alongside Tony Alvaro, director of the Camillus Community Choir. The choir will perform a couple of solo numbers as well as sing with the combined choirs. That adds up to as many as 100 vocalists lending their voices to the harmonies of the seasonal music.
Father Christopher Ballard, pastor of the Spirit of Hope Parishes in Madison County and former pastor of Our Lady of Hope, will deliver the homily. It promises to be an evening with something for everyone.
“There’s enough variety, I think, that it keeps people engaged,” Andino said. “There’s a reading with a different reader, and maybe a number that is just a soloist and piano, and then a reading, and then maybe a full choir, full-blown production number, or a carol for the whole room to sing.”
What makes this exciting for Andino and, in turn, brings a creative liberty that keeps the audience, is the variety.
“What’s different about this from Mass, for me, is that I’m not bound by strict rubrics. So there’s a lot of freedom, but it’s still liturgical. First and foremost, it’s a prayer experience. It’s not just an event. From how we do the lighting and how you feel when you come in. It’s an experience of prayer to help you hear the Christmas story with new ears.”
What: Lessons and Carols
Where: Our Lady of Hope Church, 4845 S. Salina St., Syracuse 13205
When: 7 p.m. Sunday, December 15
Cost: Free, open to all faiths
Here’s what people say about past Lessons and Carols directed by Tom Andino …
Eileen Dailey of St. Joseph’s, Camillus is an avid patron of Lessons and Carols.
“I’ve gone three or four times, when it was at Le Moyne. Josh Corcoran (music director at St. Joseph’s) said I would enjoy attending, and I did. I became a believer; it was just a beautiful evening. It’s just a wonderful way to prepare for the season of Christmas.”
Matt Wojak is cantor and assistant music director at St. Michael’s/St. Peter’s and Our Lady of Hope and helps put the event together.
“Nothing has gotten me more in the mood for Christmas, nothing has filled my cup more than Lessons and Carols. The relationship, seeing people, seeing all different age groups coming together to sing for it. They know it’s a 100-person choir, so people feel empowered to come and sing. There is just nothing like it.”
Michelle Ryan of Our Lady of Hope, an alto choir member since 2011, experienced Lessons and Carols for the first time in 2022.
“I didn’t really know that Tom worked at Le Moyne College, and he put on a big Lessons and Carols Christmas extravaganza every December. He invited all the members of the choir to come. And I was so excited. I had no idea the scale of this Lessons and Carols. How many people, how many musicians were going to be involved in it. So I’m very excited that he’s recreating it at Our Lady of Hope.”
Dan Cummings, retired news anchor at NewsChannel 9 and one of the Scripture readers for Lessons and Carols in years past and for 2024.
“It was moving, for sure, really one of the most moving Advent experiences I’ve ever had. I love it because of the teachings, because the readings from Scripture are accompanied by great music, of course. And to me, it made a huge difference to hear those pivotal readings about the Incarnation and the coming of the Savior in a setting where there’s great reverence. There’s candlelight or low light, or sometimes no light at all. And then to have the music be able to complement and serve the readings and vice versa … It’s just a great time!”
