St John's Smith Square Reveals Christmas Festival Lineup For 2023

Experience timeless Christmas music in the heart of Westminster with St John’s Smith Square’s 38th annual Christmas Festival. In addition to beautiful festive music including Bach and Schubert, and guest artists including Polyphony and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the iconic hall at St John’s Smith Square will be decked in Christmas decorations, and mulled wine and mince pies will be sold in The Footstool Café for a Christmas to remember.

Embrace the festive season on 8th December with Southbank Sinfonia and the London Concert Choir, conducted by Mark Forkgen. Schubert’s ghostly Unfinished symphony will open this concert of sublime works. A further Schubert piece, Magnificat, a hymn expressing joy and thanksgiving will follow this. The concert concludes with a trio of works by Mendelssohn, including his unfinished oratorio, Christus.

On 9th and 10th December, St John’s Smith Square’s youngest visitors will be enthralled by the timeless classic, Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman, accompanied by Southbank Sinfonia. In partnership with Carrot Productions, world leaders in orchestra and film events for families, the enchanting programme also includes The Bear and the Piano, based on the award-winning book by David Litchfield. Featuring mesmerising music by Daniel Whibley, and narrated live by a surprise guest, this captivating performance will leave the whole family spellbound.

The festive offering from St John’s Smith Square’s Lunchtime Concert Series sees Samuel Ali performing Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur, putting every pipe of the Smith Square organ put through its paces on Thursday 14th December! Completed in 1935, Messiaen's monumental La Nativité du Seigneur comprises nine meditations on scenes from the Christmas story. It is a work that is all at once beautiful, strange, and intensely moving - a kaleidoscope of colour and feeling. A work for the ages, Messiaen composed La Nativité through the lens of his own vivid synaesthesia, blending Western classical idioms with Indian and Greek rhythmic ideas, plainsong, Hindu ragas, birdsong, traditional keyboard forms, and an unwavering Catholic faith.

Friday 22nd December marks the first time in 2023 that Polyphony will perform Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. With leading soloists and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, this much-loved annual event will deliver vocal, choral and instrumental virtuosity, all under the inspired direction of Stephen Layton.

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