Carol concerts celebrated with friends and relatives are a hallmark of the festive season for many families, and this year St Martin’s presents a series of Christmas carol concerts suitable for family groups of all ages, from very young children to octogenarians.

FAMILY CAROL CONCERTS

Carols for Kids [2-23 Dec] are short, 45-minute family concerts designed for very young children on Saturday mornings, where singing and Christmas jumpers are strongly encouraged! St Martin’s Voices will sing much loved classics including Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, alongside audience carols for all to join in with including Away in a Manger, Little Donkey and Once in Royal David’s City.

Festive Family Carols concerts on Saturday afternoons throughout December are designed for children and adults of all ages to come together in a one-hour programme of popular carols and music. St Martin’s Voices will sing Christmas classics including Carol of the Bells, Jingle Bells, The Twelve Days of Christmas, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas alongside audience carols for all to join in with including Good King Wenceslas, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Silent Night.

Family Christmas with the Academy sees St Martin’s Voices and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields join forces for an afternoon of Christmas music for all the family, including Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, Away in a Manger and Silent Night, in an hour-long programme promising festive cheer for all ages. Audience carols will include Once in Royal David’s City and Ding Dong! Merrily on High.

TRADITIONAL CAROL CONCERTS

Carols for Christmas offers captivating performances of festive music in an hour-long afternoon concert from St Martin’s Voices, including much-loved classics such as In dulci jubilo, O Holy Night and The Holly and the Ivy, alongside audience carols for all to join in with including O Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

The Joys of Christmas by Candlelight is a special two-hour evening concert from Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Martin’s Brass, featuring seasonal readings, choir carols including Willcocks Sussex Carol, Pärt Bogoróditse Dyévo and Leontovych Carol of the Bells, and carols for all to sing include Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, O Little Town of Bethlehem, and Joy to the World.

A Christmas Celebration by Candlelight features St Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Choir and St Martin’s Brass in a beautiful two-hour evening concert of carols and seasonal readings. Carols for all to sing include Hark! The Herald Angels’ Sing, Once in Royal David’s City, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and In the Bleak Midwinter, alongside beautiful choir carols including Rutter Nativity Carol, Warlock Bethlehem Down, Will Todd My Lord Has Come and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Christmas with St Martin’s Voices by Candlelight marks the beginning of the Christmas season with a one-hour evening concert of choir and audience carols led by St Martin’s Voices, with Andrew Earis (conductor), where they will perform carols from their new album, A Winter Breviary, including works by Cecilia McDowall, Lucy Walker, and Reena Esmail. Carols for all to sing include It Came Upon The Midnight Clear, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and In The Bleak Midwinter.

A Trafalgar Square Christmas by Candlelight celebrates the lighting of the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square on 7 December, with St Martin’s Voices and Strings offering a wonderful hour-long concert of festive music by candlelight. Carols for all to sing include It Came Upon The Midnight Clear, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and In The Bleak Midwinter, alongside works for choir and strings by John Rutter, Lucy Walker, and Ola Gjeilo.

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS - INTERNATIONAL ENSEMBLES IN STUNNING SETTING

With its warm and spacious acoustic, St Martin’s is the perfect setting for choral music, and once again they welcome world-leading ensembles to perform Baroque classics perfect for the Christmas season.

The Sixteen are one of the world's finest chamber choirs, and this season they return to St Martin’s with a performance of Handel’s Messiah, [5 Dec]. Their landmark 2009 recording was acclaimed by The Daily Telegraph as “the most popular oratorio ever written, sung by…the most richly sonorous of the early music choirs”, but The Sixteen always have something new to offer.

Chamber Choir Ex Cathedra with Jeffrey Skidmore (conductor) present their annual Christmas Music by Candlelight, an evening of readings and song specially devised for the last days of the year [12 Dec]. Christmas Baroque by Candlelight sees St Martin’s Voices Emerging Artists, Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Martin’s Chamber Ensemble perform Baroque favourites in a two-hour evening concert [14 Dec] and St Martin’s Chamber Orchestra and St Martin’s Voices also perform Handel’s much loved oratorio Messiah [18 Dec].

Tenebrae, the award-winning choir conducted by Nigel Short, return to St Martin-in-the-Fields with A Christmas Conversation - a specially created evening of words and music for the festive season, taking the audience on a winter’s journey with memories of Christmases past [15 Dec]. The spoken word is echoed and enhanced by a rich mix of music for Advent and Christmas, including favourites such as Once in Royal David’s City and In The Bleak Midwinter.

Soul Sanctuary are committed to creating contemporary gospel of the highest standard and performing it as widely as possible, and their return to St Martin’s with writer and TV presenter Mel Giedroyc for A Gospel Christmas [20 Dec] promises to raise the roof at St Martin with contemporary re-imaginings of Christmas classics by the gospel geniuses of our age.

Leading vocal ensemble The King’s Singers offer a seasonal celebration spanning continents and centuries as they journey around the whole world of Christmas music from their spiritual home of King’s College Chapel to seasonal masterpieces old and new, in a two-hour evening concert that puts William Byrd alongside Disney classics [21 Dec].

St Martin’s rings in the New Year with two concerts, starting with A Viennese New Year by Candlelight, with St Martin’s Chamber Orchestra performing a traditional New Year feast of waltzes and polkas composed by the Strauss family and their contemporaries, including the Blue Danube and Radetzky March, alongside works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky [30 Dec]. The New Year’s Extravaganza by Candlelight sees the Festive Orchestra of London and violin virtuoso Catherine Manson for their traditional new year celebration features many of music’s most popular masterpieces such as Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba and Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, concluding with Vivaldi’s spectacular Four Seasons [1 Jan 2024].