Wigmore Hall Announces Concerts for 2024 Christmas Season

Wigmore Hall’s 2024 Christmas Season opens on 4 December and features eight leading choral and vocal ensembles performing music from the 12th century to the 21st, including a world première by resident composer Caroline Shaw. Tenor Nicky Spence performs Shakespearean song settings, and The King’s Singers bring 2024 to a close with lively a cappella cabaret on New Year’s Eve.

Vocal ensemble Tenebrae opens the Christmas Season on 4 December with an evening of festive music and storytelling featuring the actor Clive Mantle. On 12 December, soprano Lucy Crowe and early music specialists La Nuova Musica weave together Christmas carols and songs, from Hildegard of Bingen to Edith Piaf. The Cardinall’s Musick’s programme of Renaissance music on 13 December centres on Jacob Handl’s 1586 motet Mirabile Mysterium and features Cecilia McDowall’s 2018 work Annunciation.

On 15 December, period ensemble Arcangelo focuses on the early German Baroque with Schütz’s Christmas Story, followed on 20 December by The Gesualdo Six, who delve into music for the Feast of the Epiphany. Bach’s Magnificat, first performed on Christmas Day in 1723, is part of The English Concert’s programme on 21 December and two days later, the Dunedin Consort’s programme on 23 December features the world première of a new choral work by Caroline Shaw, alongside Corelli’s much-loved Christmas Concerto.

Tenor Nicky Spence heralds the new year on 29 December with Twelfth Night a programme of Shakespearean song settings, from Byrd and Purcell to Billy Jackson King and John Dankworth. Finally, on 31 December The King’s Singers ring in the new year with sparkling a cappella cabaret – drawing on a surprise selection of gems from their close-harmony library.

As a special Christmas gift, exclusive footage from a private Wigmore Hall concert held earlier this year will be made available online on Christmas Day at www.wigmore-hall.org.uk. The performance features 20-year-old mezzo-soprano Anja Mittermüller, winner of this year’s Wigmore Hall Bollinger International Song Competition, baritone Marcus Farnsworth, soprano Ailish Tynan, and pianist James Baillieu. They perform six Schubert Lieder, including Nacht und Träume, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, and Meeres Stille.

Full details and ticketing information for Christmas at Wigmore Hall can be found at: https://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/series/christmas-at-wigmore-hall

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