Chennai | Ring in festive cheer with these Christmas carol concerts

Christmas carol concerts in Chennai in December 2023

Some December evenings in this city are warm and moist, like rich plum cake. It will be on two such days that the annual Madras Christian College Alumni Concert will be held at the MCC School grounds, Chetpet, where different sets of choirs will perform on December 13 and 14 from 6pm.

Dr Ravi Santosham, vice-president of the MCC Alumni Association, says, “The concert was originally begun to bring the alumni together in December. It extended to an evening of carol singing. It caught on so well and members were from so many choirs that it ended up being a two-day concert. MRF pitches in to get the stage and the grounds ready. The concert is all set to roll with the reading of the MCC prayer by a distinguished member of the alumni. Over the years, we have had Grammy-nominated artiste Chandrika Tandon, her sister and former CEO, PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi, and IPS officer K Vijay Kumar read it.”

Billed as Chennai’s largest open-air carol concert, with a mammoth stage, a 10,000 watt sound system and a background of glowing Christmas trees, the non-ticketed programme is open to the public. In the early years, a fete was part of the evening but now the focus is on the season’s melodies.

The choirs draw their music from their multi-cultural moorings to create old memories of Yuletide and new sparks. “The choirs will sing predominantly in English, Tamil and Malayalam,” says Dr Ravi. “Earlier, we had choirs such as The Chariots, a bunch of African students from Pune, but now there are so many choirs from Chennai alone.”

This year’s edition will feature The Olives and the MCC Public School choir for the first time. On December 13, the line-up includes the MCC choir; the North East Christian Fellowship Choir; Women’s Christian College choir who will perform the classic ‘It Came Upon a Midnight Clear’ (originated in 1849) and the heartwarming country music song ‘Let it be Christmas everywhere’ by Alan Jackson; and Organized Chaos which will sing its barbershop arrangements of ‘Santa Claus is comin’ to town’ and ‘Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree’.

On December 14, J7’s Harmonic Circle; Madras Musical Association choir; Bella Voce; Canticles; Octet Cantabile; MCC Campus School choir with 30 students performing ‘Christmas Anthem’ and ‘Old Basque Carol’; and Voyz Male performING ‘Ordinary Baby’, an acapella, and ‘Enna Aachariyame’ in Tamil, will feature.

The concert will conclude with that glorious standard, Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from his oratorio, Messiah.