This holiday season, JPR presents a big gift box of special programming for you. And now, to start unwrapping...
Classics & News Service
December 25th
7am - In Italia In the sixteenth-century, the splendor of the Renaissance blossomed across Italy as a new Holy Roman Empire stretched its wings from the Urals to the Atlantic. This special holiday program brings you wonderful sixteenth-century Christmas music from the Venetian world of Giovanni Bassano and Gioseffo Zarlino, moving westward to the Milan of Franchinus Gaffurius, and southerly to the Naples of Diego Ortiz.
8am - St. Olaf Christmas Festival A service in song and word that has become one of the nation's most cherished holiday celebrations. Tickets to the event - which takes place at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN - are always gone months in advance. The festival includes hymns, carols, choral works, as well as orchestral selections celebrating the Nativity and featuring more than 500 student musicians in five choirs and the St. Olaf Orchestra.
10am - Christmas Revels A two-hour musical celebration of the winter holidays 鈥� Christmas, the Solstice, New Year's, and Twelfth Night 鈥� featuring traditional carols, anthems, hymns, motets, wassails, spirituals, children's game-songs, and folk dance tunes excerpted from live Christmas Revels productions presented around the country.
12pm - Messiah with the PSO Handel's much adored oratorio, Messiah, returns to Heinz Hall! Led by 老夫子传媒 Director Manfred Honeck and featuring a cast of guest vocalists and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, this work is a religious story of hope, inspiration and timeless expression.
2pm - A Chanticleer Christmas Holiday favorites, new and old, presented live in concert by the superb 12-man ensemble known as "an orchestra of voices."
3pm - Hollywood Holiday Lynne Warfel hosts an hour of holiday movie music that ranges from the sentimental to the completely cranky. From "White Christmas" and cozy homes for the holidays, to Grinches and Scrooges, Hollywood Holiday takes in your favorite holiday movies from a musical point of view.
Classics & News Service
January 1st
8am - New Year's Day From Vienna The Vienna Philharmonic presents its ever popular annual New Year's Day concert from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. You'll hear your favorite waltzes, polkas and more -- a festive way to start off the New Year. It's presented by NPR 老夫子传媒 and hosted by WBUR's Lisa Mullins.
2pm - New Year's With The PSO Often compared to Victor Borge and Dudley Moore, Igudesman and Joo are two classical musicians who have taken the world by storm with their unique and hilarious sketches in theatrical shows. Now, they join Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for a whirlwind concert of humor and virtuosity.
Rhythm & News
December 25th
9am - An American Rhythm Christmas American Rhythm Host Craig Faulkner has put together a day of incredible holiday themed gems from the vast music archives of American vernacular music. Sit back and enjoy some absolute classic cuts and rare gems from the vaults!
1pm - Pink Martini's Joy to the World: A Holiday Spectacular The internationally acclaimed 鈥渓ittle orchestra" Pink Martini bedecks the airwaves with festive holiday songs from across the globe. From timeless classics to rarely heard gems, hear a multi-denominational, multi-cultural jubilee, overflowing with enough holiday spirit to warm your entire family. Hosted by All Things Considered鈥檚 Ari Shapiro.
2pm - All Songs Considered for the Holidays It's the lucky seventh edition of a weird holiday tradition from NPR 老夫子传媒. Host Bob Boilen and friends trade holiday cheer and snarky barbs while bringing you the best holiday songs from new and emerging breakout bands. Hear renditions of great holiday music you鈥檒l never hear at the mall or your mother鈥檚 house.
Rhythm & News
January 1st
9am - Open Air's Best of the Year Dave Jackson, Danielle Kelly, and Eric Teel present an entire day of the best music from 2015!
News & Information
December 24th
8am - Innovation Hub's Holiday Special Innovation Hub is heading home for the holidays. In this 1-hour program, fascinating guests explore the science and invention behind family traditions we love 鈥� from dinner table debates to department store trips.
9am - Living on Earth: Hope for the Holidays This year's Living on Earth holiday show presents tales from Celtic traditions, an African-American parable, and other stories all centered on the theme of hope. Two characters listeners will meet in this program include a trickster slave who outwits his master, and a boy who discovers that he鈥檚 descended from an enemy tribe!
News & Information
December 25th
8am - A Christmas Carol Start your Christmas morning with the wonderful Oregon Stage Works production of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, featuring Caroline Shaffer, Doug Rowe, Liisa Ivary, Kevin Kennerly, Bob McCracken, and JPR's own Don Mathews, with original music by Todd Barton. Produced by JPR's Eric Teel.
9am - A Celtic Christmas Tom谩seen Foley's A Celtic Christmas recreates the joy and innocence of a night before Christmas in a farmhouse in the remote parish of Teampall an Ghleanntain in the west of Ireland, when the neighbors gather around the fire to grace the long wintry night with the laughter of their stories, the joy of their music, and dances they always said they were much too old for. This special holiday show features Foley's charming tale "Parcel from America," plus music from guitarist William Coulter, fiddler Deby Benton Grojean, and piper Todd Denman, as well as songs from Moira Smiley. Produced by JPR's Eric Teel.
