Published 23 December 2025

“A festive dopamine hit to the eardrums, pulling out all the stops this Christmas”

Anna Lapwood has such golden retriever energy. As popular in the social media arena as she is in real life, she returns to her home venue, the majestic Royal Albert Hall, for a Christmas extravaganza with all its festive trappings.

Accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and conducted by Karen Ní Bhroin, proceedings were kicked off with a wonderful Christmas medley including Good King Wenceslas, Silent Night and Deck the Halls. The full house erupted into rapturous applause as Anna bounded out to her organ, fizzing with anticipation. It was clear nostalgia would feature heavily in the production, with the night dominated by film scores including Anna’s firm favourites from Interstellar, The Da Vinci Code and How to Train Your Dragon. Now and again, a tender piece would emerge, full of personality and novelty, including a sweet performance by solo violinist Esther Abrami performing We’re Walking In the Air from The Snowman and a piece titled Transmission in honour of her violinist grandmother.

Anna’s skills as a performer are only eclipsed by her passion for engaging the audience. She constantly interacts throughout, through personal anecdotes, praising clothing choices, dedicating songs to people, arranging for a former student to get up and conduct a few pieces of music, and having the conductor both figuratively and literally pass the (purple) conductor’s baton to her. It’s all very heartwarming, and you cannot fail to smile at the genuine connections Anna can make with thousands of strangers sat a million miles away from her organ seat. Speaking of millions, during The Greatest Showman’s A Million Dreams, Anna had even sneakily set it up for a German girl to propose to her boyfriend at a pivotal moment when all the audience were waving their phone torches for maximum visual effect- it was legitimately romantic.

Concert review by a Young(ish) Perspective