The Brick Presbyterian Church Reimagines a Service of Nine Lessons & Carols with U.S. Premiere by Margaretha Christina de Jong

THE BRICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH REIMAGINES A SERVICE OF LESSONS &

CAROLS WITH U.S. PREMIERE BY MARGARETHA CHRISTINA de JONG

The 2024–25 season of Worship & Arts at Brick Presbyterian Church continues with a

service of Nine Lessons & Carols, featuring the U.S. premiere of Margaretha Christina de Jong’s

In the Bleak Midwinter, on Sunday, December 22nd at 4:00 PM at The Brick Presbyterian

Church, 1140 Park Avenue, Manhattan.

 

The Lessons and Carols ceremony at Brick Church is modeled after the service started at

Truro Cathedral in 1880 and first sung at Cambridge's King’s College Chapel in 1918. By

flickering candlelight, it tells the Christmas story through music, weaving together anthems sung

by the choir, communal Christmas carols, and readings from Scripture. This year’s repertoire

includes carols by William Mathias, Elizabeth Poston, Cecilia McDowall, Sally Beamish, DavidWillcocks, Robert Lucas Pearsall, and John Rutter, as well as the US première by Margaretha Christina de Jong.

To RSVP for this free service, please visit this page.

 

ABOUT MARGARETHA CHRISTINA de JONG

Margreeth de Jong (b. 1961) studied at Rotterdam Conservatory, where she obtained the

diplomas of Church Music, Teaching Musician Organ and Performing Musician Organ with the

highest distinction in 1986. She then specialised with Guy Bovet in Switzerland, as well as with

Marie-Louise Jaquet-Langlais at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, where she obtained the Prix de

Virtuosité in 1988. In the same year, she won first prizes at international competitions in Paris

and in Haarlem (César Franck competition).

 

In 1994, Margreeth de Jong was awarded the Silver Medal by the Société Académique

"Arts-Sciences-Lettres" in Paris because of her contribution to the French organ culture. In 2012,

she was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

 

Margreeth de Jong has been organist of the Nieuwe Kerk in Middelburg since 2001 and

city organist of Middelburg since 2014. She is also active as a composer. She has written for

organ, choir, piano, organ and solo singing, organ with various instruments and for string

orchestra. Her compositions have been published in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and

in the USA.

 

ABOUT WORSHIP & ARTS

Brick Church’s concert series, Worship & Arts, welcomes all to experience the joyous,

uplifting power of the performing arts. Worship & Arts offers concerts and special worship

services throughout the year, featuring Brick’s superb Chancel Choir, recitals on the church’s

magnificent Casavant organ, as well as performances by extraordinary guest artists and

ensembles from New Y ork City’s vibrant artistic scene. Now in its second season, the program

has grown to become an important part of the Brick congregation’s offerings, and a valued part

of the New Y ork City arts community. To view the entire 2024–25 season, please visit this page.

 

At Brick Church, we believe that music, dance, and drama can comfort, inspire,

challenge, and bring us closer to the divine, showing us God’s glory reflected in all beautiful

things. Join us and share in the warmth, excellence, and energy of the performing arts at Brick!

 

ABOUT THE BRICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Brick Church is a lively and growing congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.)

that has been worshiping and serving the New Y ork community since 1767. We welcome all to

our worship services every Sunday at 11 AM followed by coffee hour, as well as seasonal

weekday services. Brick Church sponsors a thriving independent preschool, programs

that feed the hungry, as well as community outreach to the Upper East side neighborhood and

beyond.

 

Our congregation, members and visitors have worshiped in three locations in New Y ork

City. The first church was on Beekman Street across from today’s City Hall. The church moved

to Fifth Avenue and 37th Street in 1858, and remained there until 1940, when the present

sanctuary at Park Avenue and 91st Street was dedicated and the Brick Church School

established. Every year since 1945, the Christmas trees on Park Avenue have been lit on the first

Sunday in December, during a ceremony on the church steps. Church members, neighborhood

residents, and visitors from near and far gather to sing carols and honor those who have died in

all of our country’s wars.

 

We welcome everyone to come, visit, worship and see what Brick Church is all about!