Christmas church music and concerts in Venice, 2026

By the ULTIMATE Venice Editorial Team

Christmas in St Mark’s Basilica

Each December La Fenice brings its Christmas concert to St Mark’s Basilica, the cathedral of Venice. In 2026 it is dedicated to Giovanni Legrenzi, maestro di cappella at St Mark’s, on the 400th anniversary of his birth, sung by the Cappella Marciana, the basilica’s own choir, under Marco Gemmani, at 8pm on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 December.

Neither night is on open sale: the 15 December concert is reserved for guests of the Procuratoria di San Marco and the 16 December concert for La Fenice’s subscribers.

Christmas in the basilica itself centres on the Patriarch of Venice’s liturgies. The Patriarchate and the basilica had not published their 2026 times for Christmas Eve midnight Mass or the Christmas Day Mass when we checked.

Our advice: check the basilica’s liturgical calendar in mid-December, arrive early for midnight Mass, and remember that services are for worship, not sightseeing.

Teatro La Fenice: 2026–27 concert season →   Basilica di San Marco: liturgical services →   Patriarcato di Venezia →

Christmas music at La Fenice

A week before Christmas, Stanislav Kochanovsky conducts the Orchestra of La Fenice in a winter programme on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 December at 8pm: Glinka’s overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila, the orchestral suite from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Christmas Eve, and Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony, Winter Daydreams.

Our advice: La Fenice’s New Year’s Concert, from 29 December to 1 January, follows soon after; see our New Year’s Eve page.

Teatro La Fenice: Kochanovsky conducts Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky →   New Year’s Eve 2026 in Venice →   Tickets for La Fenice and concerts in Venice →

Vivaldi on Christmas Day

On Friday 25 December, Interpreti Veneziani give a Christmas concert around Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at Palazzo Zaguri, at 6pm and 8.30pm.

The same evening, at 7pm, the Vivaldi Baroque Ensemble plays The Four Seasons in the church of the Pietà on the Riva degli Schiavoni, the church of the Ospedale della Pietà where Vivaldi taught. Concerts continue there and at Palazzo Zaguri on most days between Christmas and New Year.

Our advice: Christmas Day concerts are among the few things open in the evening; book ahead, and dine before or after nearby.

Interpreti Veneziani: concerts on 25 December 2026 →   Interpreti Veneziani: concert calendar →

Carols in a palazzo and services in English

At Aman Venice in Palazzo Papadopoli, carol singers gather around the grand piano on the primo piano nobile on Christmas Eve, from 4.30pm to 6.30pm, during the hotel’s festive afternoon tea. On Saturday 2 January 2027 the Coro Manos Blancas del Friuli, a choir of children with and without disabilities, sings opera and festive carols there at 5pm, in a charity concert open to non-resident guests.

For worship in English, St George’s Anglican Church on Campo San Vio, in Dorsoduro, holds a Sunday Holy Eucharist at 10.30am with organ, hymns and sermon. It had not published its 2026 Christmas services when we checked.

Our advice: midnight Mass at St Mark’s and the Frari is a Venetian Christmas Eve tradition; Aman’s own Christmas Eve programme sends its guests to one or the other after dinner.

Aman Venice: festive programme 2026 →   St George’s Anglican Church, Venice →   Christmas in Venice →

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