Carols and Christmas concerts in San Francisco, 2026

By the ULTIMATE San Francisco Editorial Team

Handel’s Messiah: Davies Symphony Hall and Grace Cathedral

The San Francisco Symphony performs Handel’s Messiah at Davies Symphony Hall on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 December at 7.30pm, conducted by Ruben Valenzuela with the soprano Lauren Snouffer, the countertenor Reginald Mobley, the tenor Zachary Wilder and the bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.

A week later, American Bach Soloists bring their Messiah to Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 December at 7.30pm; it runs for about two and a half hours with one interval. Tickets are sold through the ensemble’s own site.

Our advice: Grace Cathedral’s stone and long acoustic suit a period-instrument Messiah; sit near the front for clarity.

San Francisco Symphony: 2026–27 season calendar →   American Bach Soloists: Handel’s Messiah 2026 →

A Chanticleer Christmas at St. Ignatius

Chanticleer, San Francisco’s own vocal ensemble, has made A Chanticleer Christmas a candlelit Bay Area tradition: centuries of Christmas music, from hushed chant to rousing carols. Its one San Francisco performance this year is at St. Ignatius Church on Sunday 20 December at 8pm.

Our advice: if the city date sells out, the same programme comes to the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland on 19 December and to Mill Valley, Berkeley and Stanford earlier in the month.

Chanticleer: A Chanticleer Christmas 2026 →

Sing-along and Holiday Spectacular: the Gay Men’s Chorus

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus holds its Holiday Sing-Along on Thursday 10 December at 7pm at The Chan National Queer Arts Center, 170 Valencia Street: familiar carols led by the artistic director Jacob Stensberg, for all ages. Seating is unreserved, and tickets are pay-what-you-choose from $10.

Its Holiday Spectacular, a festive concert of seasonal favourites and pop, plays the Golden Gate Theatre on Friday 4 December at 7.30pm and Saturday 5 December at 2pm and 7.30pm, then returns on Christmas Eve to the Castro Theatre at 3pm, 5.30pm and 8pm.

Our advice: the Christmas Eve shows at the Castro are the chorus’s home crowd, and the warmest night of the season.

SFGMC: Holiday Sing-Along 2026 →   SFGMC: Holiday Spectacular 2026 →

Deck the Hall, Peter and the Wolf, and Nutcracker

On Sunday 6 December, the San Francisco Symphony’s Deck the Hall fills Davies Symphony Hall with a Holiday Concert at 3.30pm, after a fundraising concert at 11.30am, conducted by Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser; the Symphony promises more holiday concerts, still to be announced. On Sunday 13 December at 2pm, the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra plays Peter and the Wolf.

Across the street, San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker returns to the War Memorial Opera House from 4 to 27 December, with Tchaikovsky’s score played by the Ballet’s orchestra and two shows on Christmas Eve, at 11am and 4pm.

Our advice: book Nutcracker matinées first; Christmas week sells out.

San Francisco Symphony: 2026–27 season calendar →   San Francisco Ballet: Nutcracker →

Christmas services and what is still to come

Grace Cathedral, the Episcopal cathedral on Nob Hill, holds a long-running series of Christmas concerts and its Christmas Eve services, and St. Mary’s Cathedral on Gough Street, the Catholic cathedral, celebrates Christmas Eve and midnight Mass. Neither had published its 2026 times on a page we could read on 12 November 2026; check gracecathedral.org and smcsf.org nearer the day.

Our advice: for Christmas Eve services at either cathedral, arrive at least half an hour early; for more of the season, see our <a href="christmas-in-san-francisco.html">Christmas in San Francisco</a> guide.

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