News

Christmas Gift Guide

13 December 2022

We are now well into the festive season. Our town streets are covered in lights and Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé songs echo through the cold air. But many of us are also wondering what to buy our friends and family as we scramble through our last-minute Christmas shopping. As a result, we at Welsh National Opera have decided to help you out with a few recommendations.  

A night at the opera

Treat a loved one to a ticket for one of our opera performances. There is something for everyone in our Spring 2023 Season. We will be performing Mozart’s famous The Magic Flute but with a surprising and modern twist. We’ll also be performing a brand-new opera, Blaze of Glory!, a story set in a Welsh Valleys community in the 1950s. We even have performances of Leonard Bernstein’s sparkling operetta Candide lined up in the Summer. Our Spring Season opens in Cardiff on Thursday 23 February 2023 and will visit Llandudno, Milton Keynes, Bristol, Birmingham, Southampton and Plymouth. 

WNO Friend membership

A unique Christmas gift for the opera lover in your life. As a WNO Friend, you will be invited to attend a number of curated events, dress rehearsals and you’ll gain access to priority booking, allowing you to secure your seats before general booking opens. To find out more, visit our gift membership page.

A ticket to see WNO Orchestra

In addition to our operatic performances, WNO Orchestra regularly perform in concert. In January 2023, hear an array of waltzes, marches and polkas all around the UK as part of their Return to Vienna concert tour. It is the perfect way to usher in the new year with glittering Viennese music. Another option is WNO Orchestra’s Bedřich Smetana concert in St David’s Hall on Sunday 29 January as part of the Cardiff Classical Series. Here, they will perform the Czech composer’s masterful work Má vlast

A family day at the theatre

Play Opera LIVE is a fun and interactive show, suitable for the whole family which makes it the perfect gift from Santa. With a Jurassic theme, the show includes music from Wagner and Greig as well as John Williams’s hugely popular Jurassic Park Theme. Join us at Wales Millennium Centre on Sunday 19 February. 

Make a donation

Welsh National Opera is a charity and as such we rely on kind donations from our patrons to continue thriving. If there is someone in your life who cares about the arts as much as we do, then consider making a donation as a gift on their behalf. We are always profoundly grateful for any support.

As we all put on our scarves and open the doors on our Advent Calendars to count down the days, we hope we’ve inspired you to give the gift of opera this Christmas.