Carol services and Christmas concerts in Helsinki, 2026

By the ULTIMATE Helsinki Editorial Team

In English: Nine Lessons and Carols, and Christmas with St Nicholas’

St Nicholas’ Anglican Church, Helsinki’s English-speaking congregation, holds its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in Helsinki Cathedral on Wednesday 9 December 2026 from 7pm to 8.10pm: the order of readings and carols first drawn up for Truro in 1880, sung by the St Nicholas Chamber Choir under Erik Johannes Riekko.

On Christmas Eve, St Nicholas’ holds a Family Carol Service at 4.30pm in the Mikael Agricola Church on Tehtaankatu, and a Christmas Day Festival Eucharist there at 11am. The cathedral parish also lists an Anglican Christmas Eve Mass in the Cathedral Crypt at 8pm.

Our advice: arrive early for a good seat in the nave.

St Nicholas’: Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols →   St Nicholas’: Family Carol Service →   St Nicholas’: Christmas Day Festival Eucharist →   Helsinki Cathedral: Christmas Eve Mass in the Crypt →

Helsinki Cathedral and its boys’ choir, Cantores Minores

Cantores Minores, the choir of boys and young men of Helsinki Cathedral, founded in 1952, gives its Traditional Christmas Concert, a tradition of more than seventy years, on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 December at 6pm and 8pm. Every group of the choir sings, from first-year boys to the senior choir, around the Christmas Gospel. Seats are numbered, €10–40, from Ticketmaster or at the south door 45 minutes before.

On Friday 11 December at 7pm, the choir sings the first three cantatas of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Finnish Baroque Orchestra under Hannu Norjanen (€10–75). On Monday 14 December at 7pm, the Aalto University choir Dominante gives its traditional Christmas concert.

In Christmas week, the cathedral parish holds a Finnish carol singalong, Kauneimmat joululaulut, on 23 December at 3pm, a Christmas night music devotion on Christmas Eve from 11pm to 11.50pm, and a Christmas Carols singalong with the cathedral’s cantor on Christmas Day at 4pm.

Our advice: the 8pm Cantores Minores concerts sell first; book as soon as you know your dates.

Cantores Minores: Traditional Christmas Concert →   Cantores Minores: Bach, Christmas Oratorio →   Helsinki Cathedral: events →

Temppeliaukio Church: a choir every night

In December the church cut into the rock in Töölö becomes Helsinki’s Christmas concert hall, and the city’s male voice choirs hold their traditional Christmas concerts here. The YL Male Voice Choir sings on Sunday 13 December at 3pm, 5.30pm and 8pm; Muntra Musikanter, with the Lucia of Finland, on 14 December at 6pm and 8.30pm (€32); the Polytech Choir on 15 December at 6pm and 8pm (€30/€15).

The Helsinki Academic Male Choir follows on 16 December at 8.30pm (€30/€20), Laulu-Miehet on 17 December at 6pm, Philomela on 19 December at 7pm (€18–30), Grex Musicus on 21 December at 7pm and Psaldo, singing carols in their original languages, on 22 December at 7pm (€25/€20). On 23 December at 6pm the Töölö parish closes the season with baroque arias and the Christmas story; admission is free.

Earlier, on Monday 30 November, the singers of the Finnish National Opera give their Traditional Christmas Concert here, already sold out.

Our advice: several choirs also sell tickets at the door an hour before, but the evening concerts are best booked ahead through each choir.

Temppeliaukio Church: events →   Finnish National Opera: Traditional Christmas Concert →

Uspenski Cathedral: the Orthodox Christmas

Uspenski Cathedral, the main cathedral of the Orthodox Parish and Diocese of Helsinki, keeps Christmas on 25 December. On Christmas Eve, Thursday 24 December, the Royal Hours are at 9am, Vespers with the Liturgy at 10am and the Christmas Vigil at 3pm; the Christmas Day Liturgy is at 10am, and on 26 December Matins and the Liturgy begin at 9.30am, with Great Vespers at 5pm.

Services are open to all and are held mainly in Finnish; the parish streams some of them on its YouTube channel.

Our advice: come for the Christmas Eve Vigil at 3pm, as the light fades over Katajanokka, and enter quietly; this is a service, not a visit.

Orthodox Parish of Helsinki: services, December 2026 →   Uspenski Cathedral →

Christmas in the concert halls

At the Opera House, Christmas at the Opera and Ballet, a family Christmas show of carols from around the world, plays on 16 and 17 December at 7pm (€39–79), and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King runs from 2 to 30 December (€31–130).

At Musiikkitalo, the Helsinki Philharmonic plays Let It Snow on 4 December, Anne Sofie von Otter and Pekka Kuusisto give their Christmas concert, JOULU, on 13 December at 6pm, and the Organ Baroque Christmas fills the Concert Hall on 14 December at 7pm.

Our advice: for the full Helsinki December, with the Senate Square market and the lights of Aleksanterinkatu, see our Christmas in Helsinki guide.

Finnish National Opera: Christmas at the Opera and Ballet →   Musiikkitalo: Anne Sofie von Otter & Pekka Kuusisto →   Musiikkitalo: Organ Baroque Christmas →   Christmas in Helsinki →

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