Extending Christ’s Welcome
Embodying God’s Love
Telling Our Stories
Sharing the Journey
Old North Church, UCC
The First Church of Christ in Marblehead
Old North Festival Chorus Lenten Concert at Old North Church
Old North Festival Chorus Director Maria van Kalken announces
REGISTRATION and REHEARSALS for 2025 HOLIDAY CONCERTS
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Maria van Kalken, Director of the Old North Festival Chorus and Orchestra and Minister of Music at Old North Church, has announced registration and rehearsal details for the 45th Annual Festival Chorus Holiday Concerts, and extends a warm and enthusiastic welcome to all to join. Rehearsals will commence on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, in the Sanctuary at Old North Church in Marblehead. Registration begins at 7pm and a rehearsal will follow at 7:30pm; please arrive early to register.
Subsequently, rehearsals take place from 7:30pm to 9pm on Wednesday evenings and will extend to 9:30pm as the concert dates approach. Two (2) performances will take place – one on Saturday, December 6 at 8pm, and the second on Sunday, December 7 at 7:30pm. Celebrating her 37th season as Director of the Festival Chorus, Maria has planned an extraordinary holiday program combining cherished works for chorus and orchestra. Musical selections for the December 2025 Holiday Concerts include: Joseph Hayden’s, Missa in tempore belli, also known as “Paukenmesse” (German for “Kettledrum Mass” or “Timpani Mass”; John Rutter’s, When Icicles Hang; and other seasonal favorites. Section leaders and soloists for the season include: Holly Cameron, soprano; Anne Burgett, soprano; and Kevin Hayden, tenor. Marblehead resident and internationally-acclaimed actor, Caleb Mayo, will be featured as well.​
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Regarding Covid protocols, Director van Kalken notes “We are not requiring masks to be worn at rehearsals or performances this year, but we are mask friendly! Anyone wishing to wear a mask should feel free to do so without judgement. As always, we intend to remain current and watchful with protocols.”
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Singers are not required to audition but are expected to have experience; high school students – grades 9 through 12 – are encouraged to join. All participants will be required to purchase the music provided at Registration (unless scores are already owned) in addition to a nominal Registration Fee.
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For more information about the Festival Chorus, please visit the Festival Chorus website at https://www.oldnorthfestivalchorus.org; or visit us on Facebook. The Old North Festival Chorus is supported, in part, by a grant from the Marblehead Cultural Council as administered through the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Maria van Kalken, Director of Music
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Maria van Kalken, Minister of Music at Old North Church and Director of the Festival Chorus, celebrates her thirty-fifth (36th) season in charge of Old North’s flourishing music program. Maria earned the degree of Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Oberlin, Ohio) and Master of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music (Boston, MA). Her studies abroad have included pipe organ performance at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, under the patronage of the Rotary International Scholarship Fund, and the completion of an historical organ performance program in Pistoia, Italy.
In addition to her work as Minister of Music – playing organ and directing the Senior Choir – Maria is Artistic Director of Concerts at Old North, presenting between two and six chamber music concerts annually, in the acoustically-glorious Old North Church in Marblehead.
Maria is a senior staff member of the Boston Early Music Festival (www.bemf.org); as Assistant to the Executive Director, Maria is liaison to musicians from all over the world for the Festival’s biennial Baroque opera project, as well as the annual Chamber Opera Series, the Boston and New York Concert Series (at the Morgan Library & Museum), and opera touring and recording projects.
Liz Smith, Bell Choir Director
Liz Smith of Swampscott, MA has been joyfully ringing handbells since 2008, when she joined her church’s bell choir. She soon began ringing with New England Ringers, one of New England’s finest audition handbell choirs. Liz has loved making music since childhood, when she studied piano and played clarinet, saxophone, and oboe in many school and community music ensembles. She is thrilled to be with the Old North Church Hand Bell Choir. Liz is also a math tutor at Hadley Elementary School in Swampscott. When she is not taking pictures of the sunset or collecting sea glass, Liz spends her free time with her husband, their daughter, and their three grown sons.
Holly Cameron
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Holly Cameron, soprano, is thrilled to sing with the Festival Chorus and Orchestra for her fourteenth season! She has been hailed a “marvelous femme fatale” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) with “rip-roaring high notes” (The Boston Globe). Some of her favorite operatic roles include Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Musetta (La bohème), and Abigail (The Crucible), among others. On the concert stage, Ms. Cameron has appeared as a soloist in works such as Carmina Burana, Brahms’ Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and Bach’s St. John’s Passion and St. Matthew’s Passion. A recipient of numerous honors, Ms. Cameron was a New England Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has won awards in the Shreveport Opera Competition, Sarasota Artist Series competition and the National Orpheus Vocal Competition, among others.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Voice Performance from New England Conservatory and a Master’s Degree in Voice Performance from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Holly also has a growing reputation for her interpretation of the blues and soul genres and can be regularly heard with the Chris Fitz “Bigger Soul” Band. For more information and other upcoming performances, please visit: www.hollycameronsoprano.com
Stephanie Scarella
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Anne Burgett, from Swampscott, Massachusetts, is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance
at Boston University, studying voice with Professor Penelope Bitzas. Anne is passionate about
performing operatic repertoire, sacred works, and art song repertoire. She has performed operatic roles such as the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Cathleen in Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea, and most recently, Zina in Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters. She was the soprano soloist in the Mozart Requiem at Boston University in the fall of 2023. Anne has worked as a soloist and ensemble member with Northwestern University Chorale, and was the soprano soloist at the First Presbyterian Church in Deerfield, Illinois. In addition to performing, Anne teaches voice lessons to students ages 6-22, and is an Aural Skills instructor at Boston University. She has been a member of Old North Church for ten years. This coming year, Anne will be performing the roles of Rosalba in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas and Nella in Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with the Boston University Opera Institute, and will be performing her Master’s Degree Recital in the spring.
Kevin Hayden
Kevin Hayden, tenor, performed with The Old North Church Festival Chorus for thirteen seasons. Mr. Hayden is familiar to audiences in New England and beyond having performed with Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Boston, Pine Mountain Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Boston Opera Collaborative, Charleston Chamber Opera Company, Cape Cod Opera, Masterworks Chorale, Opera del West, Boston University Opera Institute, Opera by the Bay, The Lynn Concert Singers and Trinity Church among others. Kevin graduated from Boston University with his Master of Music Degree and The University of Oklahoma with his Bachelor of Music Degree. Past operatic roles include Tamino (Die Zauberflote), Alfredo (La traviata), Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), and The Doctor (A Month in the Country). Kevin lives in Marblehead with his wife, Jennifer and two children Sully and Lizzy.