Christmas services

Wednesday 29 November, 8.15pm

The College Choir’s annual candlelight Oxmas Concert for Charity. All are welcome for this free festive concert. A retiring collection will be taken in support of the charity, Sing Inside, which works to bring the restorative power of choral music into prisons.

Thursday 30 November, 8pm

Schola Cantorum of Oxford is one of the longest established and most widely known chamber choirs in the UK. The choir comprises around thirty singers, most of whom are students at Oxford University. Studying a broad variety of subjects across the Humanities and Sciences, the choir’s members rehearse during term, and regularly perform in Oxford and elsewhere.

Tickets available here

Sung by Frideswide Voices with the Clerks.

This Advent carol service looks at the promises of God and the preparation for Christmas by thinking about Mary, mother of Jesus. Using poetry as well as the Bible, choir carols and Advent hymns, we begin to look ahead to the birth of Jesus and to give thanks to God for the gift of new beginnings which Advent and Christmas offer us.

Friday 8 December, 8pm    

Follow the Stars – Macmillan Carols is a magnificent annual Christmas fundraiser, taking place in the splendour of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford on Friday 8 December 2023 at 8pm. An evening not to be missed!

Highlights will include favourite carols and spine-tingling solos brought to you from the world class voices of the Oxford Bach Soloists. Intermingled with the exceptional music our celebrities will bring you festive cheer with their performances of Christmas readings; funny, poignant, a little unusual and even surprising but all uplifting. We recommend early booking for this popular concert.

Tickets available here

Oxford’s premier upper voice ensemble returns to Christ Church on Saturday 9th December at 8pm to reveal newly-discovered music for Advent and Christmas from Baroque English convents in Europe. From the flashiest French masterpieces and virtuosic English motets to gentle Dutch lullabies – alongside some familiar favourites – enter a wonderful musical world and join us for a musical journey through early modern England, France, and the Low Countries at Christmas, all within the former priory of the Cathedral.

Tickets available here.

The Cathedral Singers sing a selection of Christmas music including Leighton - A hymn of the Nativity, Finzi - In terra pax, and Rutti - Three carols. Also works by Byrd, Briggs and Rutter. Well known carols are included for the audience to join in and drinks will be served to audience members during the interval.

Tickets available here

Thursday 14 December, 8pm.

Thames Valley Police join us for a Christmas concert with carols, sung by the Cathedral Choir and Thames Valley Police’s own choir.

Sunday 17 December, 8pm

Always a winning concert, with a combination of pieces that our audience loves, this concert celebrates the magic of Christmas and brings people together for a sensational evening of wonderful music.

Tchaikovsky’s elegant Nutcracker Suite leads on from Brahms’ serious Hungarian Dance No. 5, before Strauss II introduces us to the boundless exuberance of the Polish March in his Trisch-Trasch Polka. In the concert’s penultimate work Tchaikovsky transports the evening to the magical halls of snowy Tsarist Russia with a regal waltz from his ballet Sleeping Beauty. The evening reaches its climax with the famous Blue Danube Waltz, not only proving the crowning jewel of a fabulous night’s worth of music, but the coronation of Johann Strauss II as the master of the Viennese waltz.

Tickets available here

Tuesday 19 December, 6pm

A Carol Service with the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, directed by Steven Grahl.

Saturday 23 December, 10:30am.

This short storytelling service transports us to Bethlehem, entering imaginatively into the Nativity story. Aimed at families with children under 11 (but all are welcome.) Children (and adults!) are welcome to dress up as characters in the Nativity story or to bring a favourite cuddly toy to place in the stable.

Sunday 24 December, 11:30pm

In this special midnight service for Christmas, we celebrate together the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ: with the joyful music of the Choir; with readings, music and carols that celebrate Christ’s birth; with incense rising as a symbol of celebration and prayer; and with the bread of the Eucharist, blessed and broken. At the end of the service, we bless the Christmas crib and place in it the baby Jesus who has been absent throughout the season of Advent.

Monday 25 December, 11am

In this special service on Christmas morning, sung by the Cathedral Choir, we give thanks for the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, with joyful readings, music and carols. The preacher is the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Revd Dr Steven Croft.

Sung by the Cathedral Singers.

The Christmas season extends into January as we continue to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and some favourite Christmas carols – such as ‘We three kings’ – really belong to this season. In this carol service, we will sing some of those favourites and the Cathedral Singers will offer musical reflection on the stories of ‘Epiphany’: revelation of the glory of God in Jesus.