By S.L. Hansen
for the Register
On Christmas Eve, parishioners and friends of Lincoln’s Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish will gather at 7 p.m. for a very special concert before Mass. Members of four different parish choirs and instrumentalists will share the Christmas story through traditional carols, as envisioned and directed by Cao Nguyen.
Nguyen has devoted his adult life to the study, teaching and conducting of music. He holds a music degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University and has taught music for Lincoln Public Schools.
At Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, he is the volunteer music director. He conducts the four choirs for Masses as well as other special celebrations, such as vow professions for the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Mercy. Choir members range in age from 2-and-a-half to 100 years old and include three generations of at least one family.
Usually on Christmas Eve, the parish has alternated each year between having the four choirs sing in concert and a nativity play performed by the youth group with recorded music. In 2024, each choir performed by turns, and then all the singers gathered for one song together.
Afterward, Nguyen began pondering the stress such a big concert placed on the choir members and instrumentalists.
“In the back of my mind,” he said he recalled, “Everyone is a volunteer, and this is a lot of time commitment.”
Following the concert, one of the choirs would also sing for the Christmas Eve Mass, after only a short break to rest their voices. The Mass itself required additional rehearsals during the same weeks of preparation for the concert, so those choir members had an even greater time commitment.
Additionally, some choirs missed members who traveled elsewhere for the holiday. Plus, there are youth who are still dependent on their parents for rides to rehearsals.
“I’m thankful there is a group of parents who are very invested in their kids,” Nguyen said. As a father of two young children himself, he understands how extra rehearsals can be rough on a family right before Christmas.
This year, Nguyen had a different vision.
“The Christmas magic was always there, but I felt like I had something new to offer.”
Currently working on a master’s degree in choral conducting at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nguyen has been studying music history. He became interested in the oratorio genre, which has been used for sacred music in the past.
“It’s like an opera, but easier,” Nguyen explained. “You don’t need costumes. You don’t need props. You don’t need crazy set pieces. You just need singers and chamber instrumentalists… That’s a vision I want to bring, but this is not going to have a Handel’s ‘Messiah’ feel.”
Nguyen has structured the program around the Christmas story, using traditional carols in both English and Vietnamese. While many of the carols he chose are sacred, he is also including a few secular pieces that add joy and familiarity to the event. Each carol will be sung by a small group, soloist or duo, either a capella or accompanied by musicians from the parish.
“All these performers, the players and singers, they are all from different choirs,” Nguyen said.
Additionally, Nguyen is pleased that there will be some special guest singers, including the pastor of the parish, Father Basil Toan Quang Doan, CRM, and some of the Sisters of Mary, Queen of Mercy.
“That’s going to be really cool,” Nguyen grinned.
He anticipates there will be approximately 20 singers in total and the same number of instrumentalists.
“I have a few strings, a few woodwinds and an awesome trio of percussionists,” Nguyen noted. “It’s not enough for a chamber orchestra, but we have three awesome Casio keyboards and players who can do the majority of the orchestral set.”
He is pleased that there will be no need for pre-recorded music this year. Meanwhile, he wants to ensure that the instruments and voices balance each other.
“My hope is that the music engages the text and brings the text to life.”
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Photos courtesy Hai Pham, Hai’s Image Photography
Nguyen has developed four “chapters” of the nativity for the program. The first will be Mary and Joseph leaving for Bethlehem. The second will be Christ’s birth. Then there will be the angels announcing the good news, followed by the magi coming to honor the Lord.
“That is the core of the program, and then I kind of sprinkle in other traditional Vietnamese and English carols,” he revealed.
Immaculate Heart of Mary is a dual-lingual parish, so Nguyen is grateful that he was born in Vietnam and didn’t move to the United States until he was 13.
“I thank God I can communicate in both languages,” he said with smile. “I can connect with the older members and also the younger crowd.”
He anticipates that “Silent Night” will be the climatic carol of the event.
“Of course you have ‘Silent Night’ translated into more languages than you know,” Nguyen reflected. “That will be a dual-lingual one.”
His primary desire is to inspire listeners to take in the nativity story with a renewed understanding of this great gift to us from the Lord.
“I think as Catholics,” he contemplated, “the biggest mission is to somehow get people to realize the meaning and purpose behind it.”
This special musical event will take place at 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. Nguyen also plans to have it livestreamed on the parish Facebook page. Mass will follow at 8:30 p.m.
