Humperdinck’s fairytale opera Hansel and Gretel returns to Covent Garden, from December 16-January 7 [Clive Barda]

ST John’s Smith Square sometimes feels like the Cinderella of London concert halls, tucked away behind Westminster Abbey and easily overlooked. But in December it goes to the ball with a vengeance as the perfect venue for atmospheric Christmas concerts. And night after night some of the finest choirs in Britain pile in for an annual binge of singing – not a few of them from Oxbridge colleges which are the cradle of the kind of small-scale virtuoso choral groups that give the UK worldwide musical prestige.

Dec 15 brings New College, Oxford: an ancient choral foundation dating back to the 14th century which is the era of some of the music they’ll sing. Dec 18 has the less ancient but comparably distinguished mixed-gender choir of Clare College, Cambridge under its livewire conductor Graham Ross – successor to the celebrated John Rutter who effectively created the choir as it is today and retains close links with it: inevitably, he’ll be on the bill here.

There’s more Rutter at Smith Square the following night, Dec 19 , when London Choral Sinfonia perform his Gloria (as well as a setting of Silent Night by Stephen Hough, the pianist/composer with whose works the LCS have formed a productive relationship).

Dec 20 it’s Christ Church, Oxford (where a good few years ago you’d have found me carrying the cross on Sunday mornings). Dec 21 the renowned Tallis Scholars sweep in to mark their barely believable 50th anniversary. Dec 22 you get the magnificent Polyphony singing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. And Dec 23 has Polyphony again, singing what will certainly be one of the most alive, alert and uplifting Messiahs to be heard in London over the season (there’s no shortage). Details of it all at sjss.org.uk.

• If that isn’t enough Christmas choral music for one week, there is more – notably at St Martin-in-the-Fields where yet another elite choir, Tenebrae, sing on Dec 15 (stmartin-in-the-fields.org). The magisterial Sixteen are at Wigmore Hall on Dec 18 (wigmore-hall.org.uk). And if, like me, you feel no Christmas is complete without hearing at least one account of Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, the choristers of Temple Church, off the Strand, are doing it on Dec 19 (templemusic.org)
Almost as necessary at this time of year as choirs, Britten and Rutter is the magic you get from Humperdinck’s fairytale opera Hansel and Gretel – which runs at the Royal Opera House Dec 16 to Jan 7. Mark Wigglesworth conducts. The performance is in English. And don’t feel too inhibited to boo the witch: she deserves it (though I always think shoving her into her own gingerbread oven is unduly cruel). roh.org.uk

• Finally, for those who don’t do Christmas but still want a heart-touching experience, there’s a Barbican concert on Dec 19 for the 80th birthday of composer Gavin Bryars. And it will touch hearts because it includes a performance of Bryars’ signature piece: the classic Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, with its loop tape of an old man’s fragile singing voice set in a glowing halo of orchestral sound. Spare handkerchiefs advisable. barbican.org.uk