Christmas 2026 · Dublin
Carol services and Christmas concerts in Dublin, 2026
Dublin keeps Christmas with candlelit cathedral choirs, a Messiah that sells out every December and a concert hall full of carols. Here are the carol services and Christmas concerts we could confirm on the cathedrals’ and the National Concert Hall’s own pages on 12 November 2026.
Updated October 2026
Christ Church Cathedral
The medieval cathedral on Christchurch Place has the fullest Christmas programme in the city. The Cathedral Choir gives Christmas with the Choir, an hour of festive favourites by candlelight, on Tuesday 8 December at 8.30pm, Wednesday 9 December at 6pm, and Thursday 10 December at 6pm and 8.30pm. Tickets are €35, from the cathedral’s own box office.
Nine Lessons and Carols, the service of readings and music before Christmas, is on Monday 21 December at 6pm, and Choral Evensong on Sunday 20 December at 3.30pm. On Christmas Eve the Festal Eucharist is at 11pm (doors 10.30pm), and on Christmas Day at 11am, sung by the Cathedral Choir; services carry no charge.
There are lunchtime carols too: Shoppers’ Carols by visiting choirs on Thursday 3 and Wednesday 9 December at 1.30pm, with no booking, and the PEATA carol service, to which dogs are welcome, on Tuesday 8 December at 1.15pm, with a collection for the charity.
Visiting choirs fill the nave in the evenings: New Dublin Voices on Saturday 5 December, Dublin Youth Choir on Friday 18 December and the Mornington Singers’ Noël on Saturday 19 December, all at 8pm. Our advice: the choir’s own concerts are the ones to book first.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Diliff · CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia CommonsChrist Church Cathedral: December 2026 Christ Church: Christmas with the Choir Christ Church: Nine Lessons and Carols
The Palestrina Choir of the Pro-Cathedral
The Palestrina Choir, the boy choristers of St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, gives The Wonder of Christmas at the National Concert Hall on Thursday 10 December at 8pm, conducted by Blánaid Murphy, with Dublin Brass and the organist Aleksandr Nisse. Tickets are €28 to €35.
The Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street is closed for works, and the choir is singing its Sunday 11am Mass in the College Chapel on DCU’s All Hallows Campus during term. Its Christmas Mass times for 2026 had not been published when we checked. Our advice: the concert is the surest way to hear the choir this Christmas.
Visit Dublin: The Wonder of Christmas Dublin Diocese: St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral
Christmas at the National Concert Hall
Our Lady’s Choral Society sings Handel’s Messiah with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under Proinnsias Ó Duinn on Monday 7, Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 December at 8pm (€25, €35 and €40). The hall notes that these performances have sold out before.
On Sunday 13 December at 8pm the mezzo Joyce DiDonato sings Christmas favourites with the a cappella quartet Kings Return and the pianist Craig Terry, from Carol of the Bells to O Holy Night (€15–€75). The soprano Claudia Boyle sings a Christmas Gala with the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland on Thursday 17 December at 3pm and 7.30pm (€15–€49).
On Tuesday 22 December at 7pm the NSOI and the national children’s and youth choirs, Cór na nÓg and Cór Linn, give A Christmas Celebration (€15–€35). For families, This Way to Christmas!, with The Snowman and the NCH Christmas Orchestra, runs from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 December.
Our advice: book Messiah first, and choose the Wednesday only if you are quick: it is the night with the fewest seats left.
National Concert Hall: Messiah National Concert Hall: Christmas Gala with Claudia Boyle National Concert Hall: This Way to Christmas! Visit Dublin: Joyce DiDonato, Kings ReJoyce! Visit Dublin: Cór na nÓg and Cór Linn
St Patrick’s Cathedral
Ireland’s national cathedral sings Choral Evensong at 5.30pm from Monday to Friday through the year, which is the quietest way to hear its choir in Advent. Its 2026 Christmas services, including Nine Lessons and Carols, had not been published when we checked. Our advice: check the cathedral’s services page in early December, as some of its Christmas services have needed tickets.
St Patrick’s Cathedral: services
How to get a seat
The concerts are ticketed and the best-loved ones sell out; book as soon as you can. For services with no tickets, arrive at least half an hour before the doors open, and dress warmly: the cathedrals are cold in December.
Our advice: Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday, so the carol services gather in the week of 21 December. Check each church’s own page in the week before you go, as times can change.
Questions and answers
When is Nine Lessons and Carols at Christ Church Cathedral in 2026?
On Monday 21 December 2026 at 6pm. The cathedral’s Christmas Eve Festal Eucharist is at 11pm and its Christmas Day Eucharist at 11am.
Where can I hear the Palestrina Choir at Christmas 2026?
At the National Concert Hall on Thursday 10 December at 8pm, in The Wonder of Christmas, with Dublin Brass (tickets €28–€35). The Pro-Cathedral is closed for works, and the choir’s Christmas Mass times had not been published when we checked.
When is Handel’s Messiah in Dublin in 2026?
Our Lady’s Choral Society and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra sing Messiah at the National Concert Hall on 7, 8 and 9 December 2026 at 8pm, with tickets at €25, €35 and €40.
Times and dates from each venue’s own page or Visit Dublin (Fáilte Ireland): christchurchcathedral.ie, nch.ie, visitdublin.com, dublindiocese.ie, stpatrickscathedral.ie, checked 12 November 2026. Check before you go.