Carols, Christmas concerts and midnight Mass in Paris, 2026

By the ULTIMATE Paris Editorial Team

Christmas at Notre-Dame de Paris

The Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris gives its Christmas concert in the cathedral on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 December at 8.30pm, conducted by Émilie Fleury and Henri Chalet, with Olivier Latry at the grand organ and Yves Castagnet at the choir organ. The programme runs from Gregorian chant to Rutter, Lauridsen and Holst, and the audience is invited to sing some of the carols.

Tickets are €40 and €25 (€15 for under-26s); the concert lasts about an hour and doors open 30 minutes before. The cathedral had not yet published its 2026 times for Midnight Mass and Christmas Day when we checked.

Our advice: the concerts already show a waiting list; book now, and check the cathedral’s own site in December for the Christmas Masses.

Musique Sacrée à Notre-Dame de Paris: Christmas concert →   Musique Sacrée à Notre-Dame de Paris: 2026–27 season →

English carols: St George’s, the American Cathedral and St Michael’s

St George’s Anglican Church, 7 rue Auguste-Vacquerie (16th), keeps the English Christmas. Its Nativity Play is on Saturday 5 December, a Malagasy Carol Service on Saturday 12 December at 3pm, and Nine Lessons and Carols on Sunday 13 December at 6pm. On Christmas Eve there is a Family Eucharist at 5pm and Midnight Mass with the Blessing of the Crib at 10pm, then Champagne; on Christmas Day, Eucharists at 8.30am and 10.30am.

At the American Cathedral in Paris, the Paris Choral Society sings At the Court of Versailles, grands motets by Mondonville and Rameau ending in carols for all, on Thursday 3 December at 8pm and Saturday 5 December at 6pm, and leads its Handel’s Messiah Sing-Along on Sunday 13 December at 3pm, when the audience sings six choruses and the Hallelujah. The cathedral’s own Christmas services were not yet published.

St Michael’s Paris, the Anglican church on the rue d’Aguesseau, holds its three Sunday services (9.30am, 10.45am and 6pm) on 6 and 13 December and was still to announce its Christmas services when we checked.

Our advice: St George’s Nine Lessons and Carols is the most traditional English carol service in Paris; arrive early for a seat.

St George’s Paris: calendar 2026–27 →   Paris Choral Society: concerts →   St Michael’s Paris: Christmas 2026 →

Christmas concerts at the Maison de la Radio

Radio France opens the season on Friday 4 December at 8pm with Britten’s Saint Nicolas, sung by the Chœur and Maîtrise de Radio France with the Orchestre Philharmonique under Lionel Sow (€9–49). Une Odyssée de Noël, with the Chœur de Radio France and the Orchestre National de France, plays in Studio 104 on Saturday 19 December at 2.30pm and 5pm and Sunday 20 December at 11am (€12–22).

On Saturday 19 December at 8pm, the trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary and the organist Sebastian Heindl play Bach, Gershwin and Piazzolla in the Auditorium (€12–38).

Our advice: Une Odyssée de Noël is the one for children; the Sunday morning performance is the easiest to fit around a day of Christmas shopping.

Radio France: Christmas and New Year concerts →

La Madeleine, the Sainte-Chapelle and the parishes

La Madeleine announces a Christmas concert for 2026 but had not published its date or its Christmas Mass times when we checked; its Dimanches Musicaux organ recitals continue through the season. The Sainte-Chapelle had no December concerts on its own agenda, and Saint-Eustache and the American Cathedral had still to post their Christmas services. We will add them as they are confirmed.

Our advice: Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday, so the carol services cluster on the weekend of 12 and 13 December; check each church’s own page in the week before you go.

La Madeleine: concerts and music →   Sainte-Chapelle: agenda →   Christmas in Paris →

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