This year’s Advent Calendar contains 24 highly recommended albums that provide perfect listening during the build up to Christmas. We would like to share with you the CDs as we open up each door. We have provided Spotify links, where possible. Just tap (or click on) the thumbnails.
Share this page with family and friends and some of these great recordings might find their way into your Christmas stocking!
Door 1: O Holy Night – A Merton Christmas
Choir of Merton College, Oxford & Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Benjamin Nicholas
Door 2: Bach, J S: Christmas Oratorio, BWV248
Mary Bevan (soprano), Clare Wilkinson (alto), Nicholas Mulroy (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass) – Cantatas 1, 3, 6); Joanne Lunn (soprano), Ciara Hendrick (mezzo), Thomas Hobbs (tenor), Konstantin Wolff (bass), Dunedin Consort, John Butt
Door 3: Carols from Clare
Clare College Singers and Orchestra, John Rutter (conductor)
Door 4: Britten: A Ceremony of Carols
James O’Donnell (organ), Sioned Williams (harp), Choir of Westminster Cathedral, David Hill
Door 5: Christmas with Canterbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir
Canterbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir, Julian Reynolds, David Newsholme (organ)
Door 6: Hely-Hutchinson: A Carol Symphony
Prague City Philharmonic Orchestra, Gavin Sutherland (conductor)
Door 7: A Wells Christmas
Jonathan Vaughn (organ), Wells Cathedral Choir, Matthew Owens (conductor)
Door 8: Christmas Truce Kerstbestand
Door 9: Rejoice! Christmas at The Sage Gateshead
Scarlett Courtney (soprano), Quay Voices, Northern Sinfonia, Northern Sinfonia Chorus, Simon Halsey (conductor)
Door 10: Britten: St. Nicholas Cantata Op. 42
Allan Clayton (tenor), Trinity College Choir Cambridge, City of London Sinfonia, Holst Singers & Temple Church Choristers, Stephen Layton
Door 11: A Traditional Christmas Carol Collection
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Door 12: Messiaen: La Nativité du Seigneur
Colin Walsh (organ)
Door 13: In Dulci Jubilo
Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier

Door 14: Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker
Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev (conductor)
Door 15: John Turner: Christmas Card Carols
Richard Simpson (oboe), Anna Christensen (harp), Intimate Voices, Christopher Stokes
Door 16: Schütz: Weinachtshistorie (The Christmas Story)
Maria Cristina Kiehr, Susanne Rydén, Andreas Scholl, Gerd Türk, Werner Güra & Franz-Josef Selig, Concerto Vocale, René Jacobs (conductor)
Door 17: Christmas with St John’s
The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, Andrew Nethsingha
Door 18: A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols – 1999
Choir of King’s College Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury (Director)
Door 19: Rutter – Christmas Music
Polyphony, City of London Sinfonia, Stephen Layton
Door 20: Carols from Queen’s
Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford, Owen Rees
Door 21: Christmas Carols from York Minster
Choir of York Minster, Francis Jackson