Sinfonia Smith Square Reveals 2024 Christmas Festival Programme

Inviting audiences to embrace the magic of the festive period, Sinfonia Smith Square has announced a Christmas Festival programme for 2024. Brimming with seasonality, the schedule features an array of live classical music events that will showcase renowned orchestras, choirs, and soloists and celebrate some of the greatest music from London and around the world. Throughout December, Smith Square Hall will be transformed into a festive wonderland, with the iconic hall decked in Christmas decorations, and mulled wine and mince pies on offer in The Footstool Café.

On Monday 9th December, The Pembroke College Chapel Choir will be led by their Director of Music, Anna Lapwood MBE, a star organist who has been called “the dream ambassador to classical music”, to perform a dynamic and varied classical programme. Shining a light on the UK’s magnificent choral tradition, the concert will open with Patricia Van Ness’s magnificent piece The Nine Orders of the Angels: Archangelus, culminating in a spectacular finale with Jonathan Rathbone’s arrangement of Franz Gruber’s Christmas classic Silent Night. 

Two of the nation’s great musical ensembles will join forces on the 12th December to celebrate the joy of Christmas. Sinfonia Smith Square and National Youth Voices will host an evening of Christmas choral classics and audience carols, featuring pieces from esteemed composers, including Dame Judith Weir and Sir John Rutter. 

Soaring into the schedule for two performances on Sunday 15th December is a live orchestral rendition of The Snowman and The Snowdog. Family audiences can step into a world of enchantment as Sinfonia Smith Square performs a soundtrack to accompany the film being shown on the big screen. A sequel to the beloved 1982 classic The Snowman, this heartwarming, animated short film is lively and joyful in nature and will be brought to life alongside recognisable melodies including Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Waltz of the Flowers and Leroy Anderson’s A Christmas Festival. With introductions from members of the orchestra, the chance to meet the musicians and try out their instruments after the concert, plus a special visit from Santa himself, this charming performance is an unmissable event for the whole family.

An exclusive opportunity for audiences to experience the captivating work of a Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor, Eric Whitacre has curated an evening event for Sinfonia Smith Square on Saturday 14th December. Highlights from his own works will see classical favourites such as Lux Aurumque, Little Tree and Sleep performed alongside traditional festive pieces including O Christmas Tree and Carol of the Bells. Notable works from Anna Lapwood and Philip Stopford, Kristina Arakelyan and Shawn Kirchner will also feature in this mesmerising programme, which will be conducted by Eric himself. 

To round up the Festival, guests are invited to enjoy the weekend before Christmas with an evening of Bach and Corelli. For two hours on Sunday 22nd December, this beloved annual event will transport audiences with vocal, choral and instrumental virtuosity as Polyphony and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment join forces under the experienced direction of Stephen Layton, for Bach’s great retelling of the nativity story. On Monday 23rd December, Stephen Layton will again conduct Polyphony and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in a very special festive performance of Handel’s Messiah. The ensemble, alongside soloists Anna Dennis (soprano), Iestyn Davies (countertenor), James Gilchrist (tenor) and Neal Davies (bass), will bring to life this classical spectacular for the finale of Sinfonia Smith Square’s Christmas Festival.

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