Concert Held At Paris’ Fire-Wrecked Notre Dame

December 25, 2020 7:10 am

PARIS (AP) — Wearing hard hats and protective suits, members of the choir of Notre Dame Cathedral sang inside the medieval Paris landmark for the first time since last year’s devastating fire for a special Christmas Eve concert. Accompanied by an acclaimed cellist and a rented organ, the singers performed beneath the cathedral’s stained-glass windows amid the darkened church, which is transitioning from being a precarious hazardous clean-up operation to becoming a massive reconstruction site. The choir initially planned to bring in 20 singers but for safety reasons they were limited to eight. The choir members stood socially distanced to be able to take off their masks — which is required indoors in France to stem the spread of the virus — and sing. The concert — including “Silent Night” in English and French, “The Hymn of the Angels,” and even “Jingle Bells” — was recorded earlier this month and broadcast just before midnight Thursday. The public was not allowed and isn’t expected to see the insides of Notre Dame until at least 2024.