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Christmas Eve concert held in Notre Dame Cathedral for first time since fire

For the first time since 2019's devastating fire, music rang through Notre Dame Cathedral for a special Christmas Eve concert.
Credit: AP
In this photo provided by Maitrise Notre-Dame de Paris,. cello player Gautier Capucon and the Notre Dame Cathedral choir record a Christmas concert on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

PARIS, France — Wearing hard hats and protective suits, 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 violinist, a rented organ and a soprano soloist, 20 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 singers 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 was recorded Saturday and will be broadcast Thursday night. The public was not allowed and isn’t expected to see the insides of Notre Dame until at least 2024.

The diocese called it a “highly symbolic concert ... marked with emotion and hope,” and a celebration of a “musical heritage that dates to the Middle Ages.”

The archbishop of Paris, Monsignor Michel Aupetit, will hold Thursday’s Christmas Eve services in Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois Church across from the Louvre Museum instead of Notre Dame.

Credit: AP
In this photo provided by Maitrise Notre-Dame de Paris soprani singer Julie Fuchs and the Notre Dame Cathedral choir recording a Christmas concert on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

The Notre Dame choir used to give 60 concerts a year inside the cathedral but has been itinerant ever since, moving among other Paris churches.

The April 2019 fire consumed the cathedral's lead roof and destroyed its spire, and only earlier this month did workers finally stabilize the site enough to begin rebuilding.

Credit: AP
Carpenters put the skills of their Medieval colleagues on show on the plaza in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2020.

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Credit: AP
In this photo provided by Maitrise Notre-Dame de Paris,. cello player Gautier Capucon and the Notre Dame Cathedral choir record a Christmas concert on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

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