Santa Fe Desert Chorale Winter Festival

The Santa Fe Desert Chorale's Winter Festival brings 24 professional singers from across the country to Santa Fe each December for a holiday program of carols, sacred works and festive songs, led by artistic director Joshua Habermann with pianist Nathan Salazar. The 2026 program, Carols & Lullabies, runs about 90 minutes and includes Eric Whitacre's Glow and Little Tree, Caroline Shaw's And the Swallow, Rossini's Toast pour le Nouvel An and Conrad Susa's arrangement of O Mi Belén from Carols and Lullabies of the Southwest. Eight of the nine performances are in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, with one Sunday matinee at First Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque.

Every performance is the same program, so most people choose one date: evenings at 7 PM or 7:30 PM, with 4 PM matinees on December 13 in Albuquerque and December 20 in Santa Fe. In the Cathedral Basilica, general admission in the rear nave and transept costs $24, reserved nave seats run from $27 to $129 by section and view, and premium seats are $139 on three dates; students with ID pay half. Tickets are sold online and through the box office at (505) 988-2282, which also books ADA-accessible and companion seats. Around the festival, the Chorale gives two free Pop-Up Carols performances in Santa Fe on December 16 and 22 and a free 45-minute children's concert on December 19.