Celebration of the Season Includes Three “Christmas Together” Concerts with Steven C, and European-style Marketplace in Saint Paul.
(Saint Paul, Minn.) Twinking lights, restorative music, enticing aromas and the warm fellowship of the Advent/Christmas season will welcome guests both inside and outside the historic Cathedral of Saint Paul during the Cathedral Christmas Market & Concerts, Thursday, Dec. 12, through Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. The Christmas markets run 5-9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and noon to 7 p.m. Saturday. The event features the 8th annual series of “Christmas Together” with Steven C concerts at
7 p.m. Thursday, Dec 12 & Friday Dec. 13, and an 11 a.m. matinee on Saturday, Dec. 14. Concert ticket prices range from $12 (general admission) to $100 (VIP reserved front of house seats, plus one reserved parking space per order). Get your tickets at EVENTBRITE. “The European grandeur of the Cathedral provides a fitting setting for the charming centuries-old custom of a Christmas market” said Rev. Joseph R. Johnson, Rector of the Cathedral of Saint Paul. “Plus, our event includes concerts all three days, inside this grand space, and all proceeds go towards restoring this magnficient landmark Cathedral. Let your heart rejoice and your soul find Advent peace here at the Cathedral of Saint Paul!”
Admission to the market is free.
Cathedral Christmas Fanfare
Audience members for Christmas Together will be the very first to hear Steven C’s newest signature piece. He commissioned the in-demand composer and arranger, Adi Yeshaya, to compose a special musical tribute to this concert series tradition. It is titled, Cathedral Christmas Fanfare, written for both piano and organ. Yeshaya built his highly esteemed musical reputation through his high-profile work for Prince, Whitney Houston, Lena Horne, Debbie Duncan, and performances featured on TV’s “The Voice.” Steven recorded another original composition, Daybreak, in a music video on the Cathedral’s front plaza and it continues to be one of his most requested songs.
Christmas Together with Steven C & Friends
Steven C. Anderson began his “Christmas Together” concerts at the Cathedral in 2015 following a lonely and difficult period in his life. Known professionally as Steven C, he brought his luxurious 9-foot Bösendorfer Grand Piano to the Cathedral and performed so that others could join him in celebrating
Christmas Together, whether alone amongst a group of strangers, or surrounded by friends and family. “After that first show, I had one gentleman tell me my performance made his Christmas; that’s all I needed to hear to come back year after year,” he said. Proceeds from the concerts support the ongoing restoration of the Cathedral. “Although I am now happily married and in a much better place, these concerts continue to be a way for me to give back to this majestic space that offered me refuge a decade ago.” Steven C. will be joined by special guest vocalists Jack Cassidy, Kathryn Budzien and Jillian Anderson, plus Grammy Award winning acoustic guitarist and Minnesota Blues Hall of Fame inductee Pat Donohue, and the Cathedral’s Director of Sacred Music and organist, Christopher M. Ganza, Ph.D. The Saturday matinee will also feature the St. Cecilia Children’s Choir.
Cathedral Christmas Market
Dates/Times: Thursday Dec. 12 & Friday, Dec. 13, 5- 9 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 14, noon to 7 p.m.
Location: In the Cathedral Courtyard, 239 Selby Avenue, located behind the Cathedral. You can enter the courtyard from the sidewalks on either Selby or Dayton Avenues.
Highlights: Marketplace tents will ring the perimeter of the Cathedral’s back courtyard, decked out with pine boughs, twinkling lights and the magnificently lit stained glass windows of the Cathedral’s
Sacristy, all set against the majestic background of the Cathedral of Saint Paul. Vendors will be selling a variety of locally made gift items, food and drinks, including beer and hot mulled wine known as
Glüwein. A variety of food trucks will be parked alongside Dayton Avenue. A warming tent will offer a comfortable place to enjoy concessions or enter a raffle to win items from from local merchants. On Saturday from 1-3:30 p.m., people of all ages can play BINGO inside the tent for a chance to win sweet prizes.
In addition, the jointly operated Cathedral Gift Shop and Cathedral Heritage Foundation booth will be selling commemorative items and accepting donations to fund restoration projects. Browse projects and sponsorship catagories here.
Thank you to our Cathedral Christmas Festival 2024 Sponsors
Premier Sponsors: Heppner’s Auto Body, Dr. David and Barbara Dries, McGough Construction
Community Sponsors: Lumitas Wealth Strategies, Premier Banks, Apres Event Décor and Tent Rental, Twin Cities Pain Clinic, Xcel Energy, Mary and Brian Harens, Scott and Ann Billeadeau, Jan McCall,
St. Patrick’s Guild, Your Classical MPR, Twin Cities Pioneer Press and the Spartan End Zone Club.
For details on how to become a community sponsor, please contact Carolyn Will [email protected]. (612-414-9661) Donations from the public in any amount are also gratefully accepted. To donate, visit the CHF website online.
The Cathedral Heritage Foundation is an independent volunteer 501(c)3 community organization whose mission is preserving the Cathedral as an historic monument and a community treasure, and supporting it as a venue for the arts and education.
