The Royal Pavilion carol concert is Wednesday 16 December, £38 with prosecco. Plus the RPO on 13 December, a £11 singalong and Britten's Ceremony of Carols.

The Royal Pavilion’s carol concert is on Wednesday 16 December: doors at 7pm, carols from 7.30pm to 9.30pm in the Music Room, then a mince pie and a glass of prosecco in the Banqueting Room, for £38 a ticket (Brighton & Hove Museums).

The quick answer

  • Most atmospheric: the Royal Pavilion carol concert, Wednesday 16 December, 7.30pm, £38.
  • Biggest: Christmas with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the 150-voice Brighton Festival Chorus, Sunday 13 December, 4pm, Brighton Dome, £20 to £50, under-16s half price. Limited availability on 3 November.
  • Cheapest: the Choir with No Name’s Big Christmas Singalong, Tuesday 15 December, 7.30pm, Brighton Dome, £11 concessions, £21.50 full price.
  • For young children: The Snowman with a live orchestra, Saturday 19 December, Brighton Dome, from £15.50.
  • Free church carol services: none of the city’s churches had published 2026 times by 3 November. This page will add them as they appear.

Every date, time and price here comes from the organisers’ own pages, read on 3 November 2026.

The concerts in date order

The Purcell Singers: Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. Sunday 29 November, 7.30pm (doors 6.45pm), Brighton Dome Corn Exchange. The choir and the harpist Eleanor Medcalf sing Britten’s 1942 setting for choir and harp, alongside carols from the Renaissance to now, including the Sussex Carol, In the Bleak Midwinter and the Wexford Carol. £28, concessions £24 (Brighton Dome).

One Voice Festival of Singing. Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 December, four performances, Brighton Dome Concert Hall. More than 2,200 singers from primary and special schools across Brighton & Hove and East Sussex, in a programme about Sussex, produced by Create Music and Glyndebourne. From £9 (Brighton Dome).

Gaudete! with Green Matthews. Friday 11 December, 7.30pm (doors 6.45pm), Brighton Dome Studio Theatre. Carols, winter folk songs and dance tunes spanning 600 years, played on early woodwind, violin and a collection of older instruments. £18, under-25s £16 (Brighton Dome).

Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus: A Merry Murder Mystery. Saturday 12 December, 7.30pm (doors 6.45pm), Brighton Dome Concert Hall. The chorus’s annual Christmas show, following last year’s sell-out, is a murder mystery at a Christmas dinner party, told through camp Christmas classics. £10, £18, £25 and £35 (Brighton Dome).

Christmas with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Sunday 13 December, 4pm (doors 3.15pm), Brighton Dome Concert Hall. Presented by Brighton Festival Chorus: James Morgan conducts the RPO, with the mezzo-soprano Juliette Pochin, the baritone Alex Otterburn, the chorus and Brighton Festival Youth Choir. Fanfares, Christmas classics and carols for the audience to sing, plus a chance to try conducting. £20, £22.50, £30, £37.50, £45 and £50, under-16s half price; the Dome listed it as limited availability on 3 November (Brighton Dome).

The Big Christmas Singalong. Tuesday 15 December, 7.30pm (doors 6.45pm), Brighton Dome Concert Hall. The Choir with No Name Brighton, a choir of people affected by homelessness run with BHT Sussex, leads Christmas classics, with the Brighton pop duo Arxx as guests. Money raised supports the choir. BSL interpreted; under-14s must come with an adult. £21.50, concessions £11 (Brighton Dome).

Carol Concert at the Royal Pavilion. Wednesday 16 December, doors 7pm, concert 7.30pm to 9.30pm with an interval. Local choirs sing in the Music Room; the mince pie and prosecco are included. £38, members 15% off (Brighton & Hove Museums).

The Snowman with Live Orchestra. Saturday 19 December, two performances, Brighton Dome Concert Hall. The film on a big screen with its score played live by Carrot Productions’ orchestra, plus the Shaun the Sheep short Fleece Navidad, a visit from the Snowman and a singalong of Walking in the Air at the end. From £15.50 (Brighton Dome).

Church carol services

On 3 November none of Brighton’s churches had put 2026 times online. Last year’s listings show the pattern to expect: St Nicholas of Myra on Church Street held its Carol Service on Sunday 21 December 2025 at 6pm (A Church Near You), and most parish services fell in the last weekend before Christmas. Churches usually post their times from late November; we will add the main city centre and Hove services here when they do.

Getting there

Brighton Dome (Concert Hall, Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre) is on Church Street, and the Royal Pavilion is next door in Pavilion Gardens. Central Brighton parking is mostly resident permit bays and expensive car parks, so read parking in Brighton before driving in, and check Brighton roadworks and travel for closures that week. The monthly What’s On listings have the rest of December, and the Pavilion’s Father Christmas dates are on our Royal Pavilion Christmas page.

Sources