Airs Wednesday, December 8 at 11PM on 93.9 FM
(Program #2230)
New Music for Hanukkah, featuring the Klezmatics, music by accordionist Ted Reichman, the Abayudada project of Jewish music from Uganda, and more.
Airs Sunday, December 12 at 6PM on 93.9 FM
In a conversation between Rabbi Ismar Schorsch and host Larry Josephson, Rabbi Schorsch explains that Hanukkah is really the story of a civil war between secular Jews, who identified with their Greek rulers, and a group of zealots, the Maccabees. The miracle of the oil (a day's supply burned for eight days) occurs at the end of the story. It is not the main story. Few secular Jewsand even fewer non-Jewsare aware that the real story of Hanukkah, was a minor holiday until Jews migrated to America in great numbers around the turn of the 20th century. After World War II, Hanukkah became "the Jewish Christmas."
Airs Sunday, December 19 at 12PM on 93.9 FM
It’s the annual soiree! Literate talk and high-level music with guests including: Judy Collins, John Guare, John Pizzarelli Trio with Jessica Molaskey, Tierney Sutton, Andrew Bergman, Ron Rosenbaum, Marie Brenner, Pete Hamill, Charles Osgood, Harry Allen, and many more!
Airs Saturday, December 18 at 3PM and Sunday, December 19 at 10PM on AM820
Maria Montessori, the great 20th-century educational pioneer, observed that children have an intuition for religious life at an early age that is matched only by their capacity to acquire language. During this holiday season, Speaking of Faith explores the spiritual wisdom and intelligence of childrenincluding their ability to process the difficult realities of life.
Airs Tuesday, December 21 at 11PM on 93.9 FM
(Program #2357)
The Messiah, remixed. New works inspired by Handel's holiday classic by Tod Machover, Scanner, R. Luke Dubois, Nobukazu Takemura, and others.
Airs: Friday, December 24 at 10AM and Saturday, December 25 at 8PM on 93.9 FM
One live, 90-minute stereo music and spoken-word broadcast from the chapel of King's College in Cambridge, England presenting the legendary Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service (Biblical readings and music) as performed by the 30-voice King's College Choir. The service begins as it has since 1918, with a boy soprano singing the opening line to "Once in Royal David's City." The reading of lessons are woven among great anthems that originate from deep inside the storied English choral tradition. Hosted by Michael Barone.
Evening Music with David Garland
Airs Friday, December 24 at 7:30PM on 93.9 FM
WNYC pulls out all the stops with a broadcast of Sir Thomas Beecham's classic 1959 recording of Handel's Messiah. This is a Messiah from the late romantic British tradition, with a lush orchestration by Sir Eugene Goosens, a huge chorus, and some of the biggest operatic voices of the day. Handel himself couldn't have imagined the grandeur of his masterpiece in this performance. Would he have approved? It's impossible to say, but the results are certainly impressive.
Spinning on Air's Holiday Special
Airs Friday, December 24 at 10PM on 93.9 FM
Had enough of the souped-up Xmas songs bombarding you in the stores? Host David Garland offers an hour of Christmas music on an intimate scale.
New Sounds: Seasonal Special
Airs Friday, December 24 at 11PM on 93.9 FM
(Program #2359)
A program of seasonal music, New Sounds style.
Airs Saturday, December 25 at 11PM on 93.9 FM
(Program #2131)
The Snowsa musical anticipation of winter weather from Pierre Favre, John Renbourn, Scott Appel, the group Altan, and others. Songs and instrumental pieces about snow from places like Scotland, the Swiss Alps, upstate New York, Ireland, and Finland.
Airs Sunday, December 26 at 7PM on 93.9 FM
The twelve men of Chanticleer, one of America's premiere vocal ensembles, have been called "an orchestra of voices." The group is especially celebrated for their holiday programs, in concert and on three best-selling CDs. For 2004, NPR will present a program with Chanticleer at the First Congregational Church in Berkley, CA, showcasing the group's Grammy Award-winning style in everything from renaissance Christmas hymns to Music Director Joseph Jennings' own close-harmony arrangements of holiday classics.
Airs Sunday, December 26 at 8PM on 93.9 FM
One of the great holiday traditions in America, the choirs of Morehouse and Spelman Collegestwo of the most prestigious historically black institutions in the nationget together to present a spine-tingling concert program. It's a joyous celebration of the schools' tradition of singing excellence, with their trademark mixture of spirituals, carols, and sacred texts. Korva Coleman hosts.
Airs Sunday, December 26 at 9PM on 93.9 FM
Philip Brunelle and VocalEssence welcome Christmas with music for the season new and old. For over three decades, VocalEssence has been revered in Minnesota and around the world as a premier producer of innovative choral music. Welcome Christmas! 2004 includes traditional favorites, and four world premieres!
Airs Sunday, December 26 at 10PM on 93.9 FM
Brass music lends the holidays a special grandeur, and this December the celebrated Empire Brass visits Saint Paul Sunday to help ring in the season. Along with traditional tunes and carols, the quintet will play glorious antiphonal and classical works that evoke the spirit of the time. We'll hear music of Russian composers, including two of Pytor Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Dances, as well as works by Susato, Purcell, Holborne and Albinoni.
The Good Auld Days
Airs Friday, December 31 at 7PM on 93.9 FM
New Year's Eve is a time to remember "auld" acquaintances, and these old friends come from the WNYC Archive, visiting us this night to offer a sense of history through recordings of their performances on our station. Hear Mayor La Guardia's New Year's message from 1941, violinist Joseph Szigeti in 1948, 21 year-old composer Ned Rorem performing in 1946, a young Carol Channing singing with composer Marc Blitzstein in 1941, Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly from 1940, Bela Bartok in 1944, pianist William Kapell in 1953, and others.
Airs Friday, December 31 at 8PM on 93.9 FM
NPR & WNYC team up to offer the acclaimed New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve celebration. This year features Beethoven's 9th with Kurt Masur and is hosted by NPR's Fred Child and WNYC's Margaret Juntwait.
Airs Friday, December 31 at 10PM on 93.9 FM
WNYC's John Schaefer hosts Paul Winter's annual Winter Solstice Celebration, this year with a decidedly Russian flavor: The Dmitri Pokrovsky EnsembleRussian village dancers and singersjoins African mbira master Chris Berry and the famous Paul Winter Consort. They'll lead our "Journey Through the Longest Night" with new works and old favorites including "Dancing Day," the West African "Minuit" and Paul Winter's "Icarus." Wolves, whales and the audience in New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine join in with holiday glee.
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Additional Holiday Treats
The Leonard Lopate Show
December 7, 2004
Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, responds to listener-inspired holiday cooking concerns—from how to prepare wild turkey, to how to find a good butter babka recipe.
Please Explain: Hanukkah
The Leonard Lopate Show
December 10, 2004
In this week’s Please Explain feature the Leonard Lopate Show takes an in-depth look at Hanukkah with Rabbi Joy Levitt and Professor Alan F. Segal.
"Mollygrubs"
The Leonard Lopate Show
December 10, 2004
Listeners call in to discuss what they hate about the holiday season.
Boom Box Symphony
by Alicia Zuckerman
December 14, 2004
For the past 12 years, composer Phil Kline has been leading people through the streets of New York for his annual Christmas symphony ... using tapes, played on boom boxes by the participants. This year, the Jewish Community Center commissioned a Hanukkah version of the piece. "Night Lights" premiered Thursday evening on the streets of the Upper West Side. Alicia Zuckerman went along and brought back this audio postcard.
Soundcheck
December 14, 2004
Jennifer Fisher, a Los Angeles-based dance writer and author of “Nutcracker Nation,” joins Soundcheck to shed some light on this timeless holiday classic. Also, Terry Teachout, drama critic for the Wall Street Journal and music critic of Commentary, discusses the most famous Nutcracker production of the last 50 years, that of the New York City Ballet.
A New Spin on Handel
The Leonard Lopate Show
December 14, 2004
David Lang and Phil Kline on some unusual modern reinterpretations of Handel's classic work: Messiah Remix.
Joy Story
Soundcheck
Friday, December 24, 2004
Holiday Spirit
The Leonard Lopate Show
December 24, 2004
Leonard Lopate celebrates the Golden Age of Gospel by playing and narrating some of his favorite recordings in his annual, hour-long Christmas Gospel Special. Then, according to tradition, the first Christmas carol was sung 2,000 years ago by a choir of angels to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Ronald Clancy has been collecting and studying Christmas music for the past 20 years, and joins us for a look at its evolution over the centuries, from 13th Century carols to modern classics. And in our weekly Please Explain feature, we’ll focus on the history of Christmas, from how it came to be celebrated on December 25th, to the traditions behind Revels celebrations.
A collection of seasonal stories on NPR.org
Looking for a list of holiday-related humor books? Or how about a special beer for Chanukah? NPR.org has put together a collection of seasonal stories including Jonathan Winters' A Christmas Carol.
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