The Royal Albert Hall today became the biggest major London venue yet to unveil a programme of live Christmas events with socially distanced audiences.
The Kensington landmark said “149 years of festive tradition” would be kept alive with a schedule including carol concerts and favourites such as The Nutcracker and Handel’s Messiah.
In total 36,000 tickets will be sold for 18 concerts compared with 121,229 for last year’s season.
The Hall’s chief executive Craig Hassall said: “Six months on from enforced closure, and six months away from our 150th anniversary on March 29, 2021, we are excited beyond words to open our doors to the public for what will be a joyful, stirring and historic occasion.
“It is an investment into our future — to protect the jobs of our highly skilled staff, to stimulate the local economy and the wider arts ecosystem, and to fulfil significant audience demand.”
The season starts with the Royal Choral Society on December 9 and ends with The Nutcracker on January 2.
The announcement comes the day after the Standard revealed that the Hall had avoided making mass redundancies through a “flexible lay-off scheme”. The bulk of the 515-strong workforce will be laid off on 55 per cent of their normal pay and then can be called upon when the venue is able to stage shows.
