Music, theater, zarzuela, and dance in Málaga: Municipal theaters offer a wide range during Christmas

José Sacristán in "El hijo de la cómica", the Barenboim-Said Foundation Orchestra under the direction of Thomas Guggeis and featuring mezzo-soprano Corinna Scheurle, ... Dani Rovira's traditional charity gala, the farewell performance from Antílopez, a concert by Revólver, and a diverse range of children's activities will enliven the Christmas season at the municipal theaters of Málaga. The Slavic school dance by the International Classic Ballet and the Kiev Ballet; the Christmas Concert by the Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra, this time performing Handel's Messiah, and the equally traditional New Year's Extraordinary Concert; the South Carolina Gospel Choir, and the anniversaries of El Espejo Negro, celebrating 35 years, and La Insostenible Big Band, marking 20 years, will also be featured during the festivities. Flamenco carols with Puro Cádiz and Encarni Navarro in a program designed for all tastes will also be included.

December starts at the Teatro Cervantes in Málaga with concerts by Pastora Soler tonight with the tour Rosas y Espinas- 30 Years and by Pasión Vega on Friday the 5th with her tribute to the cinematic universe of Pedro Almodóvar, both with almost sold-out tickets. The Teatro Echegaray will host on Friday the 5th the premiere of the musical project Sabar Meets Jazz, a fusion of the sound universe of Senegal and jazz made in Málaga, featuring Sengane Ngom on the sabar (Senegalese drum), Camilo Motta on winds, Pablo Guzmán on guitar, and Juanma Nieto on percussion.

On Saturday the 6th and Sunday the 7th of December, the Christmas program at the Cervantes and Echegaray theaters begins properly, with José Sacristán at the first theater in Málaga and La Insostenible Big Band at the second municipal stage. In "El hijo de la cómica," Sacristán revives the memories of Fernando Fernán Gómez gathered in "El tiempo amarillo" to bring to life on stage his friend and at the same time a master who taught him to listen to the world. La Insostenible Big Band will perform on the same days, December 6 and 7, at the Echegaray: to celebrate their 20th anniversary, they will offer a program that includes Duke Ellington, Leonard Bernstein, Xavier Cugat, and the rock-swing repertoire with which they have been entertaining the audience for years.

The flamenco carols by Puro Cádiz, scheduled for Tuesday the 9th, is a celebration of Christmas by the sea with the unique sound of Cádiz and the voices of May Fernández, Anabel Rivera, Reyes Martín, Ana Polanco, María José Fernández, Yona Luna, Raúl Obregón, and Jorge Bautista. It will be followed at the Cervantes by Antílopez's Life & Work on the last occasion that the Málaga audience will be able to see the unclassifiable duo from Huelva formed by Félix López and Miguel Ángel Márquez, who are saying goodbye to the stage (Wednesday, December 10). The Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra will arrive on the following Thursday and Friday (11 and 12) with program No. 5 of their Subscription Season, a concert directed by their principal conductor, José María Moreno, featuring works by Arvo Pärt and Gustav Mahler.

The Málaga company Pata Teatro returns to the Christmas lineup at the Teatro Echegaray with "Tierra mía," a production awarded at the Ateneo prizes and nominated in several categories at the Andalusian Loca de Teatro awards (from December 12 to 14), while the "soulful" carols by Zambombá Encarni Navarro on Saturday the 13th and the performance of the zarzuela "Doña Francisquita" by the Andalusian Lyrical Theater company on Sunday the 14th will mark the Málaga touch of the weekend at the Cervantes.

Another long-running children's show, "Viaje al planeta de todo es posible," by another Málaga company, Índigo Teatro, will return to the Echegaray during the holidays with two sessions on Wednesday the 17th and Thursday the 18th of December. Christmas at the Cervantes and Echegaray 2025 offers that same week an essential appointment: the colossal "Messiah," a masterful oratorio by Georg Friedrich Handel, stars in the Christmas concert of the Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra. Its principal conductor, José María Moreno, will take the podium, and Jone Martínez, soprano, Gemma Coma-Alabert, mezzo-soprano, Juan Sancho, tenor, Ferrán Albrich, bass, and the Coral Cármina Nova, directed by Michele Paccagnella, complete the cast (Thursday 18 and Friday 19).

El Espejo Negro returns to the stage to celebrate its 35th Anniversary and does so by reviving 'Es-Puto' Cabaret with its unmistakable star Marianna Travelo and a staging that is more flexible, renewed, intimate, and flamboyant if possible (Echegaray, December 19 and 20). The week will conclude at the Cervantes with the rock of Revólver, which has already sold out the tickets for the stop in Málaga on Saturday the 20th of the Beyond ElDorado tour, an 11-date tour to remember the thirtieth anniversary of one of their fundamental albums, while the Echegaray will open twice in the morning on Sunday the 21st for the staging of "Peneque. The dream of the puppets," a treat for the little ones from the long-standing Málaga company Los Títeres de Miguel Pino.

The South Carolina Gospel Choir, a group that brings together the best talents of the genre from Charleston, arrives in Málaga on December 22 with Michael Jackson Happy Days, a selection of deeply spiritual songs from the king of pop to which it adds other soul and gospel classics in an evening that promises colorful and contagious black music. The Teatro Cervantes will then open for the thirteenth charity gala "Do you want to help with me?", organized by the Ochotumbao Foundation and featuring on stage the great comedian and actor Dani Rovira with his one-man stand-up comedy show "Vale la pena" (December 26, 27, and 28, with tickets about to sell out).

The essence of the Slavic dance school will be present in the Malaga Christmas with two Tchaikovsky classics. The International Classic Ballet, directed by Andrey Sharaev, will stage Swan Lake on December 29 with all tickets sold out, while the Kiev Ballet will do the same with The Nutcracker in two evening performances on January 6, 2026, for which few tickets remain for sale. Between both proposals, the Teatro Cervantes will install its acoustic shell for the best classical music. The Barenboim-Said Foundation Orchestra comes to the city on Tuesday, December 30, with the baton of Thomas Guggeis, mezzo-soprano Corinna Scheurle, and a program with iconic compositions by Brahms, Ravel, and Shostakovich. For its part, the Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra brings the director from Singapore, Darrel Ang, to conduct a New Year's Extraordinary Concert in which pieces by Franz von Suppé, Johann Strauss II, Josef Strauss, Bedřich Smetana, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky will be performed, as well as scores by Ang himself and the New York-based Chinese composer Tan Dun (Saturday, January 3, 2026). And the final touch to the festive offer for the little ones will be a great musical show based on a universal story: Peter & Pan, a production by Escalante created by LaMaR that will raise the curtain at the Cervantes on Sunday the 4th and the morning of Monday, January 5, 2026.

Christmas Program: Cervantes and Echegaray

(M) music (T) theater (Z) zarzuela (D) dance (TI) children's theater

TC: Teatro Cervantes. TE: Teatro Echegaray

Pastora Soler. Roses and Thorns- 30 Years. Teatro Cervantes (M). December 5. From 20 to 65€

Passion Vega. Passion Almodóvar. TC (M). December 5. From 16 to 48€

Sabar Meets Jazz. PREMIERE. Teatro Echegaray (TE) (M) December 5. 20€

El hijo de la cómica. Directed and performed by José Sacristán. TC (T). December 6 and 7. From 11 to 30€

La Insostenible Big Band XX Anniversary. PREMIERE. TE (M) December 6 and 7. 20€

Pure Cádiz. Flamenco carols. TC (M). December 9. From 12 to 36€

Antílopez. Life & Work. TC (M). December 10. From 12 to 36 euros

OFM. Program No. 5. Pärt and Mahler. Director: José María Moreno. TC (M). December 11 and 12. From 10 to 27€

Zambombá Encarni Navarro. TC (M). December 13. From 9 to 24€

My Land. Pata Theater. TE (TI). December 12, 13 (6 p.m.) and 14 (11 a.m. and 1 p.m.). 8€

Doña Francisquita. XX MALAGUEÑAN CYCLE OF ZARZUELA FROM THE ANDALUSIAN LYRICAL THEATER. TC (Z) December 14. From 7 to 21€

Journey to the planet where everything is possible. Indigo Theater. TE (TI). December 17 and 18 (6 p.m.). 8€

OFM. Program No. 6. Handel. Christmas Program. Director: José María Moreno. TC (M). December 18 and 19. From 12 to 36€

'Es-Puto' Cabaret. 35th Anniversary. The Black Mirror. TE (T) December 19 and 20. 20€

Revolver. Beyond the Golden tour. TC (M). December 20. From 15 to 45€ (already on sale)

Peneque. The dream of the puppets. The Puppets of Miguel Pino. TE (TI). December 21 (11 a.m. and 1 p.m.). 8€

South Carolina Gospel Choir. Michael Jackson Happy Days. TC (M). December 22. From 14 to 42€

Dani Rovira. Worth it. TC (T). December 26, 27, and 28. 28€

Swan Lake. International Classic Ballet. TC (D) TC. December 29. From 18 to 54€

Barenboim-Said Foundation Orchestra. Corinna Scheurle mezzo-soprano. Thomas Guggeis musical direction. TC (M). December 30. From 11 to 30€

OFM. New Year's Extraordinary Concert. Director: Darrel Ang. TC (M). January 3. From 12 to 36€

Peter & Pan. Production by Escalante created by LaMaR. TC (TI). January 4 (6 p.m.) and January 5, 2026 (12 p.m.). 8€

The Nutcracker. Kiev Ballet. TC (D). January 6, 2026. From 18 to 54€