TILO 15 REVISE HIGH RES FOR UPLOADING

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ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE
35TH CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL
The 35th Christmas Festival at
St John’s Smith Square commences
on 10 December and runs through to
23 December. All concerts will be
appropriately socially distanced and on
many occasions repeated, to ensure
that as many people as possible can
experience the joy of live music at
Christmas. The festival opens with
Olivier Messiaen’s monumental
outpouring of faith, his solo piano
odyssey ‘Vingt regards sur l'enfant-
Jésus’, played by Rolf Hind.
There is then the first of two
participatory concerts featuring
Koor with conductor Simon Capet
(11 December). The first of the regular
artists who appear each year at the SJSS
Christmas Festival will be The Choir
of Clare College Cambridge on
12 December, with a programme built
around Britten’s ever-popular ‘A
Ceremony of Carols’. Previous SJSS
Young Artists, The Gesualdo Six, give
a pair of concerts on 13 December
evoking the mystery and joy of the
season whilst on 14 December, David
Titterington continues the exploration of
the Christmas music of Messiaen.
The London Choral Sinfonia will
perform at the Christmas Festival on
16 December with a programme
including Bach’s joyous ‘Magnificat’.
Ex Cathedra return to the Christmas
Festival, celebrating their 50th
anniversary season on 17 December.
As is long-established
tradition, Stephen Layton directs his
choir Polyphony for the climax of the
festival on the 23 December in a pair of
concerts celebrating the great mystery of
Christmas through the ages.
Visit the website for full listings at
www.sjss.org.uk
TICKETS FOR QDOS PANTOMIMES
GIFTS TO NHS WORKERS
All tickets for the first performance
of pantomimes produced by Qdos
Entertainment in Manchester, Bristol,
Milton Keynes, Stoke-on-Trent and
Birmingham will be gifted to NHS
workers and their families.
Mark Cornell, CEO at Ambassador
Theatre Group said: ‘The Ambassador
Theatre Group is delighted to be
showing pantomimes in five of our
venues in Bristol, Manchester, Milton
Keynes, Stoke and Birmingham this
Christmas, thanks to the support of The
National Lottery. ATG and its staff are
also inviting our magnificent NHS and
their families to the first performance at
each venue free of charge. We hope that
this small gesture shows how incredibly
grateful we all are for what the NHS has
done for this country.’
The productions are able to go ahead
thanks to the support of The National
Lottery, giving thousands of theatregoers
in each city and across the country the
chance to enjoy pantomimes this
Christmas. By making it viable for
theatres to open their doors, up to
250,000 tickets will be available, with
more than 20,000 free tickets available
for National Lottery players and the rest
to go on sale.
Llandi Oshinowo.
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • @ t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g