The Christmas concerts held in the dark church of the chamber choir Värinä have grown in popularity year after year

On it’s that time of the year again, when churches all over Finland are filled with Christmas concerts.

Nowhere else does it seem to organize the kind of Christmas concerts that the chamber choir Värina is known for. Last Monday, it invited the people to the St. Paul’s Church in Helsinki again in the dark, and the people came.

I’m shaking Peace-Christmas concerts are known for being listened to in the dark. Or it’s not pitch dark in the church, but very dim, because all the lamps are turned off during the concert. The atmosphere is created only by the candles fluttering here and there and the orange light shining through the windows.

It was a good decision to leave the Christmas lights on the big Christmas tree standing on the altar this year as well.

Finland The concerts of Värinä’s dark church, one of the leading mixed choirs, have grown in popularity year after year. This year, advance sales for the two concerts have been record high, and the St. Paul’s Church event was sold out on Monday.

The evening was impressive. In a dark church, attention is not drawn to other people and thoughts do not wander as easily as in bright light. The darkness invites you to close your eyes, concentrate, listen. You can feel how the song rises to the heights and, as it were, bounces back from the stone walls of the church, piercing the audience sitting in the pews in silence.

The harmonious hum of the choir’s low singing voices can be felt in the body.

Darkness invites you to close your eyes.

Chamber Choir has organized his dark church concerts for eleven years.

“There are an awful lot of choir Christmas concerts organized in the capital region. I got the feeling that you have to do something different if you want to stand out from the crowd. It was my idea to turn off the lights”, choir leader Noora Brain tells.

Many come to the concert year after year.

“Of course, we didn’t have a church this full in the first years, but the number has slowly grown. The word has spread when people have said that this is such a wonderful and shaking experience,” says Hirn.

“Now we’re starting to get to the point where two concerts might not be enough in the future. It’s starting to get so hard.”

The concert at the end, the choir members walk in a procession of candles and stop to sing on both sides of the church. The classic song that ends the evening The country is so beautiful pounces on someone sitting in the audience Anne Tervon to the moved state.

“The song itself is so great. I got so emotional when I noticed that the father of the children’s bandmates was singing right next to me. How can a person’s voice ring in us? It feels like a vibration,” says Tervo, wiping the corners of his eyes.

He has come to church with his childhood friend Marjo Kettusen with. They got to know each other already in kindergarten in Kuhmo. They have been going to Värinä Paavalinkirkon concerts since the beginning. They always sit in the same places.

“Wonderfully made lighting, the whole is wonderful,” they enthused.

Also Milla Alftan, Risto Alftan and Liisa Anttonen say that the concert is a long-standing and important tradition for them. I vibrate another Peace-concert is organized on Thursday in Kallio church, but the small and intimate space of Paavalinkirkko makes this trio always come to this church.

“The concert is a tradition for me. This is somehow very calming, it gets you in the Christmas mood,” says Milla Alftan.

Liisa Anttonen says that she is a choir singer herself. He always sits at a concert with his eyes closed.

“You can just be and enjoy it. When the upper notes start to play and the fifths click into place, I always go crazy. It’s perfect happiness then.”

When the darkness of the church removes unnecessary distractions, you can immerse yourself in the ringing arms, says Anttonen.

At the Rauhaa concerts familiar songs are heard (e.g. Christmas night, festive night and I’m not looking for power or glory) as well as slightly rarer Christmas music.

According to Hirn, many people have said that the concert was such a calming experience for them that the smart rings and watches that measure the body’s functions have thought that the wearer is in a deep sleep.

“And they really haven’t been asleep, but they’ve been very relaxed. It’s really interesting. When we started discussing the matter, it turned out that it happens to some of the choir members as well, even though they’re singing,” says Hirn.

Some of the young men in the audience probably also experienced something like that, who commented on their experiences to each other outside the church after the concert.

“Great but soporific. Sedative,” was the analysis.