Christmas Entertainment

Christmas Entertainment
By Expats.cz

Annual events:

International Festival of Advent and Christmas Music Held from the first Advent weekend in Prague, this festival features a variety of concerts of Advent and Christmas music. Details at www.orfea.cz.

The Bohuslav Martinů Festival in Prague Classical music festival held in December each year since 1995, celebrating the music of the famous Czech composer.
Details at www.martinu.cz.

Prague Christmas Competition festival  held over Christmas in Prague celebrating a variety of Christmas music and carols along with Czech Christmas traditions.
Details at www.choirs.cz.   

Must-hear music:

Dec 16 Christmas Charity Concert, Congress Hall, Prague Hilton, 19:30. A gala concert for a good cause with celebrated conductor Paul Freeman directing the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. To benefit the Chance 4 Children charity—this event requires an invitation. Visit www.c4c.cz for more details.

Dec 24 Czech and World Christmas Carols at the Klementinum, 13:00.
Dec 24 Midnight Mass (půlnoční mše or simply půlnoční) is held in many churches and in Old Town Square (this one starts at 21:15). Part of any Czech Christmas is a performance of  Hej mistře, vstaň bystře by the eminent Czech Baroque composer, Jakub Jan Ryba. Other popular masses take place at St. Vitus or St.Thomas (this mass is in English).

Dec 16, 17, & 18 The Bear Educational Theater´s A Christmas Carol (19.30) at the Reduta Theater. This nifty English-Czech production company teaches English to students of all generations through its oft-zany, super-interactive, and wildly popular theater performances. Dickens´ haunting holiday tale reinterpreted by this talented repertory is sure to be a crowd pleaser that´ll melt even the iciest of scrooges. The performance takes place in the snug basement theater of the Reduta Jazz Club, the very venue where the less-famous of the infamous “team Clinton” once wailed the night away on his sax. Národni Třída 20, tickets: 220 CZK.
 
Dec 18 Topping and Butch´s Christmas is So Last Year! So maybe the sight of two balding, flabby male fetishists, bedecked in snug bondage gear, one brandishing a riding crop, doesn´t exactly conjure holiday hijinks (appetite loss is more like it). But that´s what a ticket to Topping and Butch´s Christmas Is So Last Year! at Divadlo Na Pradle (18.30) gets you. And while the performance is sure to bring on the ribald, the Fringe Festival faves typically leave the raunch to subtext. Their act, a campy musical number laced with sketch comedy, has made them the UK´s top cabaret duo. Just the thing for the onslaught of the festive season. Part of the Prague Fringe Festival´s ongoing comedy nights. Besední 3, tickets: 245 CZK.