Kildare audience can watch stunning Christmas Carol Service from Maynooth College Chapel online

The annual Christmas Carol Service from Maynooth College Chapel will be lived-streamed by this evening, Tuesday 18 December from 7.30pm to 9.00pm, giving Kildare audiences and further afield a chance to witness the beautiful singing in the magnificent college chapel.

The Carol Service takes place over three nights with President Michael D. Higgins in attendance for the final night, tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 19.

Read also: €75,000 for Naas church from deceased UK supermarket millionaire

Four choirs are participating in Carol Service - the Maynooth University Choral Society and the Seminary Chapel Choir both conducted by Dr John O’Keeffe; the Maynooth University Chamber Choir conducted by Ruaidhrí Ó Dáilaigh and the Schola Gregoriana directed by Dr Darina McCarthy.

This year’s Carol Service coincides with the 200th anniversary of the world’s most popular Christmas carol, Silent Night. The carol itself will be a centre piece of this year’s service, with a special performance by the choirs and the congregation of more than 700.  

St Patrick’s College, Maynooth and Maynooth University are also hosting a special exhibition to mark 200 years of Silent Night. Called ‘Silent Night 200 – History. Message. Present.’

The exhibition was brought together by the Austrian Foreign Ministry and traces the origins of the song’s lyrics and melody. It also gives an insight into the carol’s Irish adaptations and  runs from December 17 to 21 and from January 3 to 7 at the President’s Arch in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. It is free of charge and open to the public from 9am to 6pm. For more details, click here.

To watch the Carol Service, log on here.