A 16-piece chamber orchestra plays music from Christmas films and traditional carols at Reading Minster.
The Christmas Orchestra returns to Reading Minster on Saturday 12 December, their third run in the town after selling out in 2024 and 2025. It's a 16-piece chamber orchestra playing a programme of music from Christmas films, with traditional carols and festive classics mixed in. The set is performed live with full sound production and a lighting show, and the repertoire is set to original arrangements with surround sound.
The film scores they'll be working through cover a fair bit of ground: Home Alone, Elf, The Holiday, Love Actually, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Nutcracker, Harry Potter, Die Hard 2 and White Christmas. It's a broad sweep of the Christmas movie canon, from the big orchestral scores to the more lighthearted stuff, and the carols sit alongside them. The organisers note that the concerts aren't affiliated with the films or the composers whose music they're playing.
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Reading Minster provides the backdrop, its medieval and Victorian architecture and acoustics playing their part in the evening. The show runs in two sessions on the same day, so you can pick the one that suits you best: the Early Concert has doors at 17:15 and runs from 18:00 to 19:15, and the Late Concert has doors at 19:45 and runs from 20:30 to 21:45. All tickets are unreserved seating on a first-come, first-served basis.
