From Christmas carols to “Auld Lang Syne” and New Year’s Day waltzes, it definitely wouldn’t be a celebration without music. So whether you’re after festive classics or something more esoteric, there’s a performance for you this holiday.

Hansel and Gretel, until 29 December, Royal Opera House, London. If you’ve not visited the renovated Royal Opera House then now’s the time to do it, while the handsome foyers and terrace bar are decked out in their festive finery. The Christmas spirit extends to the stage, where Engelbert Humperdinck’s enchanting fairytale opera, Hansel and Gretel, returns in a new production.

Director Antony McDonald has taken inspiration from traditional German storybook illustration to create a staging that celebrates both the tale’s magic and darkness. A fine young cast are led by soprano Jennifer Davis and mezzo Hanna Hipp as Hansel and Gretel, with former Kathleen Ferrier Award-winner Christina Gansch as the Dew Fairy, and Haegee Lee as Sandman (inset).

The Sixteen, 22 December, The Concert Hall, Reading. There’s more to Christmas music than “Hark! The Herald” and “Good King Wenceslas” as The Sixteen prove in this wonderfully wide-ranging programme. Under the direction of Harry Christophers, this top-notch chamber choir brings traditional carols including “Down in Yon Forest” and the “Coventry Carol” together with plainchant, Renaissance polyphony, twentieth- and twenty-first-century anthems to create a thoughtful musical meditation.