Children's Classic Concerts: Elf Academy

Children's Classic Concerts bring Elf Academy to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday 12 December, with two performances that afternoon, one at 1pm and one at 3pm. It's a family show that kicks off the festive season by imagining it as a term of schoolwork: musical maths classes, wintery PE sessions and a Christmas dinner assignment in Home Economics, all delivered elf-style. Head Elf Owen Gunnell runs the day, and the whole thing is conducted by Celia Llácer.

The cast is a big one. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra provides the music, joined by the RSNO Children's Chorus and the Manor School of Ballet, so there's singing and dancing on stage alongside the orchestra. BSL performer Paul Whittaker signs at every performance; he founded the charity Music and the Deaf in 1988 and was awarded an OBE in 2007. The show is supported by the Maurice & Nicola Taylor Charitable Trust.

Celia Llácer leads the orchestra. She studied with Maestro Borja Quintas and at the University of the Arts in Zurich, and was selected for The Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Women Conductors in 2023. With the RSNO, the chorus and the ballet school all on the same bill, it's a full house for a Saturday afternoon.

Tickets are £23.50, £19 and £13.50 for adults, and £17, £13.50 and £10.50 for children, with the booking fee and restoration fund included in those prices. There are two shows on the day, 1pm and 3pm, so you can pick the one that fits your afternoon.