Christmas 2026 · Valencia
Christmas church music and concerts in Valencia, 2026
Valencia’s Christmas sounds like choirs: children’s choirs singing nadales, the university’s Orfeó in its sixty-seventh Christmas concert, and two great baroque ensembles in the Palau de la Música. Here are the Christmas concerts and services we could confirm on the venues’ and the cathedral’s own pages on 12 November 2026.
Updated October 2026
Bach and Handel at the Palau de la Música
The great event of the Valencian Christmas is Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, cantatas one to four, on Thursday 17 December 2026 at 7.30pm in the Sala Iturbi of the Palau de la Música. Ton Koopman conducts his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, with the soprano Elisabeth Breuer, the countertenor Maarten Engeltjes, the tenor Tilman Lichdi and the baritone Klaus Mertens.
Between Christmas and New Year, on Wednesday 30 December at 7.30pm, Paul McCreesh brings his Gabrieli Roar to the same hall for Mr Handel’s Christmas Story, the Nativity told through passages of Messiah and Handel’s other oratorios.
Our advice: both concerts are on general sale through the Palau’s own box office, where prices are shown; the Koopman is part of a subscription series, so book early for good seats.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © carlos corzo · CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia CommonsPalau de la Música: Bach’s Christmas Oratorio Palau de la Música: Mr Handel’s Christmas Story
Valencia’s own choirs sing Christmas
On Sunday 13 December at 11.30am, the Escuela Coral Pequeños Cantores de València, with its children, young singers and former members, holds its Festa de Nadales 2026, a morning of Christmas songs for the Fundación Columbus. On Wednesday 16 December at 7.30pm, the Orquestra Filharmònica de la Universitat de València and six children’s and youth choirs give a Christmas Concert for Farmamundi, from Mozart and Dukas to traditional Spanish carols.
On Wednesday 23 December at 8.30pm comes the 67th traditional Christmas concert of the Orfeó Universitari de València, “El mundo canta ante una cuna”, with VOCES8 Scholars as guests and Francesc Valldecabres conducting: music from Victoria, Gabrieli and Schütz to Britten, Tavener and Gjeilo, opening the choir’s eightieth anniversary in 2027.
Our advice: the Orfeó’s concert, two days before Christmas, is the one Valencians treat as the start of the holiday; book it as soon as you arrive.
Palau de la Música: Festa de Nadales 2026 Palau de la Música: Christmas Concert for Farmamundi Palau de la Música: Orfeó Universitari & VOCES8 Scholars
The Banda Sinfónica Municipal’s Christmas morning
Valencia is a city of wind bands, and its own, the Banda Sinfónica Municipal de València, gives its Christmas Concert on Sunday 20 December 2026 at 11.30am in the Sala Iturbi, conducted by Cristóbal Soler, with the trumpeter Juan Bautista Fons and the Coral Juan Bautista Comes.
Entry is free with a ticket: tickets are released online and at the Palau box office from 18 December at 10am, two per person, while they last. Our advice: be online at 10am sharp on the 18th.
Palau de la Música: Banda Sinfónica Municipal Christmas Concert
Christmas at Valencia Cathedral
Valencia Cathedral, on the Plaza de la Reina, keeps the full Christmas liturgy. Its choir’s standing calendar lists First Vespers, the Office of Readings and the Mass of Christmas Eve on 24 December, and a year-end Te Deum with a Eucharistic procession around the cloister. The 2026 times were not yet published when we checked on 12 November.
Ordinary Masses in December are at 8am, 8.45am, 9.30am (sung), 7pm and 8pm on weekdays, with extra Masses at 11am, noon and 1pm on Sundays and holy days, and the cathedral streams its principal celebrations online. The Cant de la Sibil·la, the medieval Christmas chant sung in the cathedral each December, had no 2026 date on an official page when we checked.
Our advice: services are open to all and not ticketed; come early for the Christmas Eve Mass and dress warmly.
Valencia Cathedral: choir calendar Valencia Cathedral: Mass times Christmas in Valencia
How to get a seat
The Palau de la Música sells every concert through its own box office, online and at the hall in the Turia Garden; the free Banda concert needs a ticket too. Church services are free and unticketed, so arrive at least half an hour early for the great feasts.
Our advice: Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday, so the concerts cluster in the week before; check each page in the days before you go, as programmes can change.
Questions and answers
Is there a midnight Mass at Valencia Cathedral in 2026?
The cathedral celebrates the Mass of Christmas Eve on 24 December, preceded by First Vespers and the Office of Readings, according to its choir calendar. The 2026 time had not been published when we checked on 12 November; see catedraldevalencia.es in December.
What Christmas concerts are on in Valencia in 2026?
At the Palau de la Música: Festa de Nadales on 13 December, a Christmas Concert on 16 December, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Ton Koopman on 17 December, the Banda Sinfónica Municipal on 20 December, the Orfeó Universitari with VOCES8 Scholars on 23 December and Handel with Paul McCreesh on 30 December.
Do I need tickets for the Banda Sinfónica Municipal Christmas concert?
Yes, although entry is free. Tickets are released online and at the Palau de la Música box office from 18 December 2026 at 10am, two per person, while they last.
Dates and times from the venues’ and the cathedral’s own pages (palauvalencia.com, catedraldevalencia.es), checked 12 November 2026. Check before you go.