Support Us Login

Classical Music

Best concerts and opera in December

By Claudia Pritchard on 12/11/2023

Handel's Messiah dominates the month's great music, but there is also Bach, passionate Italian opera and a German fairy tale

Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, Royal Opera House

Opera's most popular double bill: in Mascagni's 'Cav' (pictured) passions run high in a small Sicilian community, where townspeople are preparing for a religious festival. Then in Leoncavallo's 'Pag', as crowds gather for a show, an entertainer discovers that his wife is being unfaithful. Stirring music and two brilliant sets make this a thrilling evening.

WHEN

Thursday 30 November – Friday 15 December. Seven performances, start times vary. Running time 3hr 15min, including one interval

WHERE

Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD

Handel's Messiah, Westminster Abbey

As part of St John's Smith Square's full Christmas programme of seasonal music, a special appearance at Westminster Abbey (photo: David Benedict) by the abbey choir, with St James' Baroque and soloists Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Mark Dobell (tenor) and Tom Butler (baritone). A London resident for over 40 years, Handel wrote some of his best music for the abbey and is buried in Poets’ Corner. Beside Roubillac's statue to the composer is a musical score showing a fragment of Messiah's moving ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’.

WHEN

Tuesday 5 December, 7pm–9:30pm

WHERE

Westminster Abbey, Dean's Yard, London SW1P 3PA

Gospel Messiah

The rhythms that conductor and jazz fan Marin Alsop (pictured) found irresistible in Handel's Messiah are given an extra kick in this funky arrangement of the Christian story set to music. A popular fixture in Alsop's native US, this up-tempo Messiah gets its European premiere, with the BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus and soloists Tshavbalala and Vanessa Haynes. This is Handel's work as you have never heard it before – guaranteed.

WHEN

Thurs 7 Dec 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, South Kensington, London SW7 2AP

Zoffany Ensemble: A Light and Joyful Christmas Treat

Here's a really refreshing respite from full-on Christmas preparations, with music for small ensemble. The palate cleansers from this flexible group include music by Beethoven, Mozart and the Swedish romantic Franz Berwald. Not a jingle bell or 'Allelujah' in sight, just uplifting instrumental music to recharge your batteries.

WHEN

Sunday 10 December, 6:30pm

WHERE

Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Street, London WC1R 4RL

Handel's Messiah, arranged by Mozart

In this season of Messiah, the Christmas story told in song, here is a rarely heard version, fleshed out by Mozart, with added trombones, horns, flutes and clarinets. Sofi Jeannin conducts the BBC Singers, Britten Sinfonia and soloists, three of whom, Hilary Cronin (soprano), Helen Charlston (alto) and Morgan Pearse (bass) are winners of the London Handel Singing competition. Tenor Laurence Kilsby similarly won recent prizes in London and Innsbruck.

WHEN

Tues 12 December, 7:30pm

WHERE

Barbican Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS

A Babe is Born, St John's Smith Square

The Choir of New College, Oxford, gives a sublime concert of Christmas music across the centuries. Robert Quinney directs carols and devotional music by pioneers such as Praetorius, and modern composers including Errollyn Wallen. The college was founded in 1379, and music has long been at its heart. Organists Donal McCann and Marcus McDevitt accompany the adult and boy choristers, appearing in London as part of St John's Smith Square Christmas Festival.

WHEN

Fri 15 Dec 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

St John's Smith Square, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HA

Hansel and Gretel, Royal Opera House

Return, after the Covid delay, of a full-throttle production of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck's master work, his opera for all the family, based on the tale by the Brothers Grimm. Brother and sister set out into the wood for food for their impoverished family and hit gold with a gingerbread house. But first they must deal with its malevolent resident.

WHEN

Saturday 16 December – Sunday 7 January. Nine performances, start times vary. Running time 2hr 15min, including one interval

WHERE

Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD

Bach's Christmas Oratorio, St John's Smith Square

Choral ensemble Polyphony with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Stephen Layton are joined by soloists Anna Dennis (soprano), Hugh Cutting (counter-tenor, pictured), James Gilchrist (tenor) and Neal Davies (bass) for Parts 1, 2 and 3 of JS Bach's Christmas Oratorio, a work of great intricacy and yet on a vast scale, a piece for total immersion amid the pre-Christmas scramble.

WHEN

Friday 22 December, 7:30pm

WHERE

St John's Smith Square, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HA

Handel's Messiah, St John's Smith Square

There are several excellent performances of Messiah in London this Christmas, as always, but for an atmospheric venue and wonderful performers, really close to the big day, this line-up takes some beating: choral ensemble Polyphony with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Stephen Layton plus soloists Anna Dennis (soprano), Hugh Cutting (counter-tenor), James Gilchrist (tenor) and Neal Davies (bass) – all fresh from Bach's Christmas Oratorio the day before.

WHEN

Saturday 23 December, 7:30pm

WHERE

St John's Smith Square, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HA

Beethoven's 'Choral' Symphony No 9, Barbican

Loved for the rousing 'Ode to Joy' of its last movement, Beethoven's final symphony is performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Christopher Warren-Green with soloists Gemma Summerfield (soprano), Rebecca Afonwy-Jones (mezzo-soprano), Oliver Johnston (tenor) and Thomas Hopkinson (bass), with the massed voices of Goldsmiths Choral Union, Coro Spezzato, and Highgate Choral Society. Before this great statement of humanity, the same composer's mighty Piano Concerto No 5, the 'Emperor'.

WHEN

Thursday 28 December, 7:30pm

WHERE

Barbican Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS

Best concerts and opera in December

Handel's Messiah dominates the month's great music, but there is also Bach, passionate Italian opera and a German fairy tale

Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, Royal Opera House

Handel's Messiah, Westminster Abbey

Gospel Messiah

Zoffany Ensemble: A Light and Joyful Christmas Treat

Handel's Messiah, arranged by Mozart

A Babe is Born, St John's Smith Square

Hansel and Gretel, Royal Opera House

Bach's Christmas Oratorio, St John's Smith Square

Handel's Messiah, St John's Smith Square

Beethoven's 'Choral' Symphony No 9, Barbican

Christmas

Royal Opera House

English National Opera

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Polyphony

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

JS Bach

Handel

Messiah

Handel's Messiah: the key to Christmas music

Aigul Akhmetshina interview: 'It's Fifty Shades of Carmen!'

Best Concerts and Opera in November

Best opera at Covent Garden in Autumn 2023

Jephtha, Royal Opera House review ★★★★★

Festival of Lessons & Carols, Westminster Abbey 2023