Winter (Advent & Christmas)
• Baker Street Quarter – Portman Square (Portman Square Garden): Marylebone Winter Garden (1–3 December 2021) (live music – festive performances from gospel choirs to instrumental brass band, carols and joyful Christmas songs)
Wednesday 1 December
16:00 – 16:45 & 17:30 – 18:15
Get Gospel
Thursday 2 December
16:00 – 16:45 & 17:30 – 18:15
Hetty Loxston Jazz Trio
18:30 – 19:00 & 19:15 – 19:45
Ensemble of the Golden Bough
Friday 3 December
16:00 – 16:30 | 17:00 – 17:30 | 18:00 – 18:30
Bella Tromba – Brass Quartet
+ Baker Street Quarter Christmas Lights (12 November 2021 – 3 January 2022)
1. Baker Street / Marylebone Road junction. Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, the ornate lamppost columns marking the gateway to the Quarter feature illuminated geese sporting blue jewels (carbuncles).
2. 55 Baker Street. As you approach this destination, look up into the trees to spot the bright yellow eccentric items that would have been for sale at the amazing and exotic Baker Street Bazaar. The fabulously popular bazaar was a huge draw in the 1800s – 1900s and the original home of the Madame Tussauds exhibition.
3. Portman Square Garden. The shimmer of the blue and gold from the decorations in this garden are a subtle nod to Lady Montagu’s ‘Blue Stocking Parties’ which were held in Montagu House (currently Nobu Hotel London Portman Square) on Portman Square for eminent intellectuals.
4. Manchester Square Garden. Once the home of Marylebone Pleasure Gardens, the trees gleam with thousands of warm lights to reflect how the garden would be have been lit by candles and lanterns in the 1700s.
• Maryon Park: Sparkle in the Park (1–5 December 2021) (immersive light trail, twinkling trees, fire art installations, live music performances, shows for children, Christmas disco)
• Trafalgar Square: Christmas Tree lighting up ceremony (2 December 2021) (speeches from the Lord Mayor of Westminster and the Mayor of Oslo, performances from the Salvation Army, the Poetry Society and The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields and reading from young ambassadors from Westminster Befriend a Family)
• Chelsea: Chelsea Christmas Shopping Event (4 December 2021) (a glittering host of offers and promotions and festive entertainment + complimentary horse & carriage rides)
• Chiswick Flower Market: Chiswick’s Christmas Tree Lighting (4 December 2021) + Christmas Chiswick Flower Market (5 December 2021) (Flower Market full of Christmas festivities)
• St Martin-in-the-Fields & Trafalgar Square: Blessing of the Crib (5 December 2021) (a dramatisation of the Christmas nativity for today, with carols, action, music, prayer and a live donkey)
• Southwark Cathedral: Mayor of London Christmas Carol Service (13 December 2021)
The Service will be led by the Very Revd Andrew Nunn, Dean of Southwark. The Mayor, Sadiq Khan, will offer his Christmas message to Londoners. A choir will perform traditional carols at the service and individuals from various communities in London have been invited to deliver readings at this years’ service which focuses on the theme of climate change.
Special Events
• Hogarth’s House: Hogarth’s House Late (1 December 2021) (a chance to see the galleries in the evening) + Paula Rego at Hogarth’s House (20 July 2021 – 27 February 2022) (a selection of 42 works by Paula Rego including prints, lithographs etchings and more)
• Grosvenor Square: Ever After Garden (The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity) (1–23 December 2021) (illuminated rose garden of remembrance)
• Museum of London: Christmas late opening (2 December 2021) (explore the museum after-hours)
• Tate Britain: Late at Tate Britain: Life Between Islands (3–5 December 2021) (a weekend of music, food and reflection at Tate Britain)
• London Art Week (LAW) (3–10 December 2021) (a major showcase of the best that the art market has to offer, from leading galleries and auction houses)
• Mayfair Art Weekend (MAW): West End Gallery HOP! The WINTER Edition (10 December 2021) (‘hop’ from gallery to gallery in Mayfair, St James’s, Soho, and Marylebone, with participating galleries staying open until 8pm)
• National Gallery: Friday Lates (10 December 2021) (late night opening with drop-in life drawing and talks)
• Swedenborg Society – Swedenborg House: Swedenborg Film Festival (SFF) (11 December 2021) (a special programme of screenings, installations and performance)
• Guildhall Yard: Borealis (Dan Acher) (11–22 December 2021) (spectacular immersive installation, inspired by the Northern Lights)
• Borough Market: An Evening of Cheese (15 December 2021) (a cheese-themed festive extravaganza – tastings, expert advice and a festive cheeseboard featuring the highest quality cheeses from Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands)
• The Royal Parks – Hyde Park (The Serpentine) – Serpentine Swimming Club (SSC): Peter Pan Cup (“Peter Pan Christmas Day Race”) (25 December 2021) (a race strictly for Serpentine Swimming Club members only though spectators are welcome)
Exhibitions
• Japan House London (Gallery): Windowology: New Architectural Views from Japan (1 December 2021 – 10 April 2022)
At Japan House London, explore how windows take on cultural significance and surprisingly shape all our views on the world in an exhibition by the Tokyo-based Window Research Institute, a foundation dedicated to supporting research into windows and disseminating knowledge about them.
Curated under the direction of architect and critic Igarashi Taro, Windowology: New Architectural Views from Japan examines how windows influence our views on the environment, contemporary urban living, craftsmanship, design, architecture, and in print literature.
Find out how the Japanese teahouse features many different forms of windows which diffuse the changing light within a tiny space; how manga, as reflections of everyday life, reveal our relationship with windows; how craftspeople and windows are equal partners in the manufacturing process; the function of windows as devices of environmental control and how writers and artists see windows within their works.
A special interactive, site-specific installation by artist Tsuda Michiko – using framing, mirrors, and film – seeks to distort perspectives and invites us to challenge our preconceptions.
Booking is essential to visit the exhibition.
• Camden Image Gallery & Parrot Fine Art: Through the Eyes of Russia (3–21 December 2021)
Parrot Fine Art brings to London a group exhibition of multidisciplinary contemporary artists from all over Russia, each of which is distinguished by their bright style and high level of mastership.
Curator: Viola Sevostianova
• National Gallery (Sunley Room): Kehinde Wiley: The Prelude (10 December 2021 – 18 April 2022)
In this exhibition, Wiley will shift his focus from one European tradition – Grand Manner portraiture – to another – landscape painting.
Through new artworks, including film and painting, Wiley will look at European Romanticism and its focus on epic scenes of oceans and mountains, building relationships with the National Gallery collection of historical landscapes and seascapes by Turner, Claude, Vernet and Friedrich.
• Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) – The Porter Gallery: Prix Pictet 2021: Fire (16 December 2021 – 9 January 2022) (the world’s leading prize for photography and sustainability – 13 shortlisted photographers)
Watch
• The Royal Parks: Winter Warmer Online Talks – Tales from the Catacombs of Brompton Cemetery (9 December 2021)
• Guildhall School of Music & Drama: Anna Karenina (9–16 December 2021)
• The Shows Must Go On!: Macbeth (11–18 December 2021)
Free London Wonder 