Christmas concerts and midnight Mass in Warsaw, 2026

By the ULTIMATE Warsaw Editorial Team

Kolędy with the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir

Each December the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir gives its Concert of Christmas Carols in the Concert Hall on ul. Jasna, conducted by Bartosz Michałowski. The programme mixes old and contemporary carols, Polish and from abroad, and shows how each carries the customs and landscapes of the place it came from, one melody often heard in several arrangements.

In 2026 there are four evenings, all at 7pm: Thursday 10, Monday 14, Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 December. Tickets are PLN 120.

Our advice: the 21 and 22 December concerts fall in the last days before Wigilia, when the city is at its most festive; book them first.

Warsaw Philharmonic: Concert of Christmas Carols →   Warsaw Philharmonic: 21 December →

Britten’s Saint Nicolas, and an Advent concert for children

On Friday 18 December at 7.30pm and Saturday 19 December at 6pm, Paul Goodwin conducts the Warsaw Philharmonic in Schubert’s Fifth Symphony and Britten’s cantata Saint Nicolas, with the tenor Ian Bostridge, the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and the “Artos” Children’s Choir of Teatr Wielki. Tickets are PLN 60–145.

For families, the Musical Advent Calendar on Sunday 20 December fills the hall with the Łódź Chamber Choir and a trombone quartet: at 11am for children aged 3 to 6 and at 2pm for ages 7 to 12 (PLN 40–45).

Our advice: Saint Nicolas, with its children’s voices and congregational hymns, is a Christmas evening an English visitor will feel at home in.

Warsaw Philharmonic: Britten’s Saint Nicolas →   Warsaw Philharmonic: Musical Advent Calendar →

Old Polish pastorals in the Łazienki

The Polish Royal Opera performs Pastorałki staropolskie, Old Polish carols and pastorals from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources arranged by Jacek Urbaniak, in the Royal Theatre of the Old Orangery in the Łazienki park, on Friday 18 and Saturday 19 December at 7pm. Karol Szwech conducts; the staging is by Jitka Stokalska. The evening lasts about two hours with an interval, and seating is unnumbered.

On Sunday 13 December at 7pm the company’s early-music ensemble, Capella Regia Polona, joins the soprano Olga Pasiecznik for “O di Betlemme”: Torelli’s Christmas Pastorale, Vivaldi’s Winter and Scarlatti’s Christmas cantata, at the Nowa Miodowa concert hall, ul. Rakowiecka 21.

Our advice: reach the Old Orangery on foot from ul. Agrykola, as the opera suggests, and arrive early for the best of the unnumbered seats.

Polish Royal Opera: Pastorałki staropolskie →   Polish Royal Opera: O di Betlemme →   Polish Royal Opera: December programme →

Pasterka at St John’s Archcathedral

Pasterka, the Shepherds’ Mass, is celebrated at midnight between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day across Poland, and in Warsaw the Archcathedral of St John the Baptist, in the Old Town, is its natural home. When we checked, the cathedral had not yet published its Christmas 2026 Mass times; its regular Sunday Masses are at 8am, 9.30am, 11am, 12.30pm, 6pm, 7pm and 9pm.

Our advice: confirm the Pasterka time with the parish office (+48 22 831 02 89) in December, and arrive well before midnight, as the nave fills early.

St John’s Archcathedral: Mass times →   St John’s Archcathedral: contact →

Services in English

The Anglican Church in Poland holds its Warsaw services in English every Sunday at 4pm, in the Evangelical Reformed Church at Al. Solidarności 74, following the order of the Anglican Communion. It had not published its 2026 Christmas services when we checked; the chaplain can be reached at Chaplain@anglicanchurch-poland.org.

Our advice: write to the chaplain in early December for the dates of any carol service and the Christmas Day communion.

Anglican Church in Poland: Warsaw →

Questions and answers