Christmas 2026 · Vienna
Carol services and Christmas concerts in Vienna, 2026
Vienna’s Christmas is sung: by the Vienna Boys’ Choir in the Gothic chapel of the Hofburg, by the cathedral choir under the great Gothic vault of St Stephen’s, and by the whole audience at the end of a concert. Here are the services and Christmas concerts we could confirm on the churches’ and venues’ own pages on 12 November 2026.
Updated October 2026
The Vienna Boys’ Choir: Mass in the Hofburgkapelle and Gute Hirten
In the Gothic chapel of the Hofburg, the Wiener Hofmusikkapelle, the court music founded in 1498, sings Sunday Mass with the Vienna Boys’ Choir and members of the State Opera orchestra and men’s chorus. On Christmas Day, Friday 25 December 2026, the Mass is Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai, at 9.15am.
Through Advent the boys sing Gallus’s Missa canonica on 13 December and Fux’s Missa confidentiae on 20 December, and on Sunday 27 December Mozart’s Coronation Mass; all start at 9.15am. A ticket is needed, sold online through Culturall. On Tuesday 8 December at 5pm the chapel also hosts the 40th Advent Concert in aid of young artists (a donation of €43 or €48, booked by email).
At the MuTh, the choir’s own concert hall in the Augarten, Gute Hirten is the boys’ Christmas concert with Chorus Juventus and the Schubert-Akademie under Jimmy Chiang: Haydn, Handel, Britten and well-known carols, ending with the audience singing Joy to the World. It is given at 4pm on 4, 5 and 6 December and at 7pm on 21 and 22 December, and suits children from four.
Our advice: book the Christmas Day Mass as early as you can; it is the most sought-after of the year.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Böhringer Friedrich · CC BY-SA 3.0 at via Wikimedia CommonsWiener Hofmusikkapelle: Masses Wiener Hofmusikkapelle: Advent Concert Vienna Tourist Board: Gute Hirten at the MuTh
St Stephen’s Cathedral: Christmas Eve to St Stephen’s Day
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia CommonsOn Christmas Eve, Thursday 24 December, the cathedral sings Pontifical Vespers at 4.30pm with the Archbishop of Vienna: Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore with the Domchor and Domorchester. At 10.30pm a brass ensemble plays from the balcony above the Giant Portal, and Midnight Mass begins at midnight.
On Christmas Day the Pontifical Mass at 10.15am is sung to Mozart’s Credo Mass, with Christmas Vespers at 4.30pm and a late Mass at 9pm, followed by improvisations on the great organ. On Saturday 26 December, St Stephen’s Day, the cathedral’s own feast, the Pontifical Mass at 10.15am is Haydn’s Paukenmesse, closing with Handel’s Hallelujah chorus.
Nearby, the Augustinerkirche, the old court parish church beside the Hofburg, sings Schubert’s Mass in E flat at 11am on Christmas Day and Mozart’s Pastoral Mass at 11am on 26 December; its Christmas Eve Mass begins at 11pm.
Our advice: for Midnight Mass at St Stephen’s, arrive well before 11pm to hear the brass from the tower and to find a place inside.
Archdiocese of Vienna: church music calendar
Christmas concerts: the cathedral and the Konzerthaus
Wiener Advent, the Wiener Symphoniker’s Advent concert in St Stephen’s, is on Wednesday 16 December 2026 at 8.30pm, with Elim Chan conducting, the soprano Christiane Karg, the tenor Lucas van Lierop, the organist Robert Kovács and Chorus Juventus: Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate and Ave verum corpus, Franck’s Panis angelicus, ending with O du Fröhliche.
Christmas in Vienna, the Konzerthaus’s gala of carols and Christmas music, is on 16 and 17 December at 7.30pm, with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Boys’ Choir, the Wiener Chormädchen and the Wiener Singakademie under Leo Hussain, and the sopranos Krassimira Stoyanova and Marina Rebeka. The first night was sold out when we checked.
Our advice: book the cathedral concert early, and wrap up warmly: St Stephen’s is cold in December.
Wiener Symphoniker: Wiener Advent Wiener Konzerthaus: Christmas in Vienna 2026
The Karlskirche
Fischer von Erlach’s great Baroque church on Karlsplatz keeps a full Advent. Its calendar lists Christmas around the World, an Advent concert, on 3 December, the Advent concert of the Slovenian Embassy on 10 December, the TU Choir’s Advent concert on 17 December and a living nativity on 19 December.
On Christmas Eve there is an afternoon service and a Midnight Mass, with a High Mass on Christmas Day and on St Stephen’s Day. The church had not yet printed the times when we checked. Our advice: look at the Karlskirche’s own calendar in December, and stay to see the frescoed dome lit for Christmas.
Carols in English: Christ Church Vienna
Christ Church, the Anglican church on Jaurèsgasse in the third district, near the Belvedere, is Vienna’s home of the English carol tradition. Its monthly Choral Evensong from the Book of Common Prayer is on Sunday 6 December 2026 at 6pm, with refreshments afterwards in the Church Centre.
Its Christmas service times, among them the carol service, were not yet published when we checked. Our advice: look at the church’s own website in late November, and see our Christmas in Vienna page for the markets.
Christ Church Vienna: services and events Christ Church Vienna Christmas in Vienna
Questions and answers
Where can I hear the Vienna Boys’ Choir at Christmas 2026?
At Mass in the Hofburgkapelle at 9.15am on 13, 20, 25 and 27 December (a ticket is needed), at their Christmas concert Gute Hirten at the MuTh on 4–6, 21 and 22 December, and at Christmas in Vienna in the Konzerthaus on 16 and 17 December.
What time is Midnight Mass at St Stephen’s Cathedral in 2026?
Midnight Mass begins at midnight on Christmas Eve, Thursday 24 December, preceded by brass from the balcony above the Giant Portal at 10.30pm. Pontifical Vespers is at 4.30pm that afternoon.
Are there English carol services in Vienna?
Christ Church Vienna, the Anglican church on Jaurèsgasse, keeps the English tradition; its Choral Evensong is on 6 December 2026 at 6pm, and its Christmas times were still to be published when we checked.
Times and dates from each church’s or venue’s own page (hofmusikkapelle.gv.at, erzdioezese-wien.at, wienersymphoniker.at, konzerthaus.at, karlskirche.at, achurchnearyou.com and ccv-site.org for Christ Church, and wien.info for the MuTh), checked 12 November 2026. Check before you go.