After a successful run of performances at Smith Square Hall in 2024, Opera Holland Park brings back Will Todd’s enchanting musical retelling of A Christmas Carol. Scored for eight singers, a trio of piano, double bass and accordion, and narrator, Todd weaves the melodies of traditional Victorian carols and the midwinter chimes of handbells through each episode of Charles Dickens’s seasonal ghost story.

A Christmas Carol

Smith Square Hall

After a successful run of performances at Smith Square Hall in 2024, Opera Holland Park brings back Will Todd and David Simpatico’s enchanting musical retelling of A Christmas Carol. Scored for eight singers, a trio of piano, double bass and accordion, and actor, Todd weaves the melodies of traditional Victorian carols and the midwinter chimes of handbells through each episode of Charles Dickens’s seasonal ghost story.

A Christmas Carol 2025

Rackleys Chiltern Hills

Premiered in 1843, Wagner’s first great opera, and his most concise, looks back to the Gothic mysteries of his youth and forward to the penetrating psychological dramas he would later craft. Love, greed, hubris and obsession drive a narrative shaped by the sea and those whose lives depend on it, opening with a violent storm in which echoes of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Weber can be heard, and punctuated by folk-like ballads for the sailors and the women who wait for their return. Cursed to sail for eternity with his ghostly crew, the Dutchman can only be redeemed by the love of a faithful woman. Daland’s daughter Senta, betrothed to Erik, is shocked to recognise the Dutchman from an ancient painting acquired by her grandmother. Their love is instant, but will it be strong enough to lift the Dutchman’s curse?

Robert Winslade Anderson

Events

Past events

Dec 16, 2025

A Christmas Carol · Sinfonia Smith Square

15 - 16 Dec, 2025

A Christmas Carol 2025 · Opera Holland Park

Future and recently performed repertoire

Daland in The Flying Dutchman by Wagner

City of London Sinfonia

Jacob Marley's Ghost/Joe, the Beetle in A Christmas Carol by Todd

Opera Holland Park

Jacob Marley’s Ghost/Joe, the Beetle in A Christmas Carol by Todd

Sinfonia Smith Square

About

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