10 September 2024
Newsdesk
Sandi Toksvig, Trevor Nelson, Jamie Cullum, Anna Lapwood and Paloma Faith are among the stars confirmed for this year’s Christmas season at the Royal Albert Hall.
The month of shows will include carols, jazz, soul, gospel, ballet and family-friendly LGBTQIA fun, as well as festive performances from Katherine Jenkins, the Royal Choral Society and the all-star Letters Live.
Matthew Todd, Director of Programming at the Royal Albert Hall, said: “There’s something for everyone in this year’s Christmas season: four weeks of festive favourites and brand-new shows, positively stuffed with national treasures. It promises to be another December to remember at the home of Christmas in London.”
The season kicks off on Friday 6 December with Jamie Cullum: Pianoman, which will see the jazz supremo accompanied by a big band. There’s more jazz the following week, with Guy Barker’s Big Band Christmas (Thu 9 Dec), as the acclaimed trumpeter, composer and arranger is joined by a host of special guests, including Paloma Faith, clarinettist and saxophonist Giacomo Smith, acclaimed vocalists Tony Momrelle and Clare Teal, and the incomparable soul singer, Vanessa Haynes.
Momrelle will return for Trevor Nelson’s Soul Christmas (Mon 16 Dec), hosted and curated by the BBC Radio 2 DJ, alongside fellow guest stars, Kimberley Davis and Kenny Thomas. The show, a sell-out success since its debut in 2019, features accompaniment from the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Kingdom Choir, conducted by Troy Miller.
National treasure Sandi Toksvig will host Sandi Claus Is Coming to Town (Wed 18 Dec), a sing-along, family-friendly queer extravaganza featuring tap dancers from Laine Theatre Arts, organist Anna Lapwood and the London Gay Men’s Chorus, alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Karen Ní Bhroin. Other family shows include the Films in Concert presentation of the beloved 1990 comedy, Home Alone, and a new version of the perennial favourite, My Christmas Orchestral Adventure, which will feature special guest star, Father Christmas.
There are also 16 chances to experience the Hall’s sing-along carol concerts, which begin on Saturday 14 December and run until Christmas Eve, including a special, relaxed performance for community groups on Saturday 21 December. The Royal Choral Society, which has performed at the Hall every Christmas for 152 years, will also present its own dedicated carols show, and there will be a headline performance from the London Community Gospel Choir, singing Christmas songs and gospel classics.
Katherine Jenkins also returns to the Hall, with the Welsh mezzo-soprano singing seasonal favourites. And epistolary extravaganza Letters Live pushes the envelope once more, with a succession of stellar names reading great letters from history – the forgotten and the famous, the poignant and the hilarious – to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the RSPCA. While the cast list is never revealed beforehand, recent readers have included Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Angelique Kidjo, Woody Harrelson, Minnie Driver, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Damian Lewis, Sir Tony Robinson and Gillian Anderson, with musical performances coming from the likes of Thom Yorke, Birdy and Sampha.
The Christmas season concludes with Birmingham Royal Ballet’s sumptuous production of The Nutcracker, specially adapted for the venue.
The Royal Albert Hall is partnering with British Airways across its Carols shows. The organisations will be fundraising together during the series to support both the Alzheimer’s Society – the British Airways’ charity of choice – and the Hall’s Engagement programme. A spokesperson for British Airways said, “British Airways is proud to be the official partner of Carols at the Royal Albert Hall 2024, as part of its BA Better World Responsible Business Programme.”
