On Thursday 5 December, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed our legendary Christmas Celebration with John Rutter at the Royal Albert Hall. The matinee and evening concerts featured much-loved Christmas carols as well as seasonal classics from across the ages, performed by The Bach Choir, Taplow Girls’ Choir and tenor Nicky Spence, with BSL interpretation by Paul Whittaker and Stephen Heselton.
Read on to see photos and reactions from the weekend.
All photos © Duncan Wood
The concert opened with the audience singing O Come, All Ye Faithful, followed by three traditional carols from The Bach and Taplow Girls’ Choirs. The Taplow Girls then performed Ding Dong! Merrily on High by George Ratcliffe Woodward.
A highlight of the night was the world premiere of John Rutter’s Christmas Child, sung by The Bach Choir. The audience joined in for a fast-paced version of The First Nowell.
Tenor Nicky Spence performed excerpts from Handel’s Messiah, including the famous Hallelujah Chorus, where the audience also joined in with the glorious four-part harmony that was included in the carol sheets!
After the interval, the orchestra played John Rutter’s Celebration Overture, followed by Good King Wenceslas. The choirs sang the beautiful melodies of Once in Royal David’s City, Away in a Manger and O Holy Night.
Absolutely loved the John Rutter Christmas Concert at the Royal Albert Hall yesterday. Bucket list stuff ✅🎄🥂
— Faith Evans (@faithevans.bsky.social) December 6, 2024 at 2:37 PM
The evening included John Rutter’s annual Christmas quiz, as well as the Mystery Item musical quiz, where audiences had to guess the name, composer and additional trivia knowledge about a piece of music played by the Orchestra, and submit their written answers for John's elves to collect.
In the second half, the Orchestra and Choir got their Christmas gear on...
Was a lovely evening - Nicky was incredible - and I don’t know how Sir John does it! Well done everyone.
— David Hicks (@the_davidhicks) December 6, 2024
The celebrations concluded with everyone singing The Twelve Days of Christmas and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, followed by the orchestra’s rousing performance of David Willcocks’ Closing Fanfare.
A fabulous evening. Thankyou! 🎄🎼🎶
— Cepta Hamm (@Ceptahamm) December 6, 2024
Facebook and Instagram audience comments
Absolutely brilliant, and despite having never sung the HC before and not being choir singers (or any singers, really 😂), we managed the alto section pretty well! A wonderful occasion, thank you 🎄🎶
It was an absolutely wonderful evening! Thank you so much.
Thank you very much for a wonderful concert 🎵
It was a dream to see and listening John Rutters music. I’m a singer too and sometimes singing John Rutters music.
I was there! A proud Taplow Girls' Choir mom. So grateful - the best event of my life.
This was an incredible afternoon, my daughter and I attended and having never sung the Hallelujah Chorus before, we entered into it (alto section 😉) with great enthusiasm! Thank you for an unforgettable time 🎄
Bucket list checked. Amazing amazing concert of a lifetime.
It was a magical start to the Christmas season, full of joy and festive spirit. Thank you to all who came, and we'll see you next year!
We’re very looking forward to celebrating John Rutter’s 80th birthday with a special concert at St Paul’s Cathedral on Thursday 5 November 2025.