HPPR Christmas Programming

Explore a glimpse of this vast (420 compositions) repertoire of poetry, songs, stories, and recitations about the “Blessed Virgin Mary” in this holiday special.  The immense collection of Marian songs and poetry came from the Court of King Alfonso X (1252-1284) of Castile-Leon (now Spain). 

Join us for A Baroque Christmas in the New World, an hour-long program of early music, celebrating the holiday season with festive music from 17th- and 18th-century Mexico, Peru and Bolivia performed by the musicians of the Historical Performance Institute at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University. 

Lynne Warfel hosts an hour of gorgeous, contemplative choral music that tells the traditional Christmas story with songs about angels, the star and the manger scene. Featured artists include Cantus, Chanticleer, Cambridge Singers, Bryn Terfel, Emma Kirkby, Jessye Norman, and a variety of choirs.

An Echoes Winter Solstice is a different kind of seasonal show. Inspired by the first Windham Hill Winter Solstice albums and Paul Winter's Winter Solstice Celebration, we play music inspired for the season in all its quiet majesty and interior warmth. With mostly original music, we'll hear sounds that evoke the longest night of the year. We weave these sounds into seamless sets of music perfect for contemplating this celestial and seasonal event. It's the calm before the Christmas storm.

  If you're hoping Paul Manafort will sing like a canary, all you have to do is tune in to the Capitol Steps' year-end edition of "Politics Takes a Holiday." Ring in the new year with laughter! Join the Capitol Steps as we broadcast live with the year's biggest stars — Mike Pence, Rex Tillerson, Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin, Bernie Sanders, and those who were gone too soon — Sean Spicer, Tom Price, and, of course, the Mooch..

All Songs Considered is NPR's guide to discovering new music below the radar. Every week, host Bob Boilen and producer Robin Hilton go through hundreds of new cds to find sneak previews of music that's worth getting excited about, whether it's the latest Swedish pop band, a hip hop artist going ambient, or a singer-songwriter with a twisted new take on love. Sometimes, artists or critics stop by All Songs Considered with their top picks. It's the perfect show for listeners who want to stay current, but don't have the time. 

The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice 2017 is a two-hour musical celebration of the winter holidays – Christmas, the Solstice, New Year's, and Twelfth Night – 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. 
Tune in on Thursday 12/20 at 2 pm CT, and again on Saturday 12/22 at 10 pm CT.

Hosted by Michael Barone, this is a live stereo music and spoken-word broadcast from the chapel of King's College in Cambridge, England. The 30-voice King's College Choir performs the legendary Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service of Biblical readings and music.

A Chanticleer Christmas is American Public Media's one-hour celebration of the season as told through the glorious voices of Chanticleer, the 12-voice San Francisco-based men's choir. The program spans the globe and the centuries — from England in the 1300s to new arrangements of classic and contemporary carols.

Click here for more information or to hear or re-hear the program on-line.

The best way to welcome Christmas is Welcome Christmas!, the VocalEssence holiday concert from American Public Media.

The perennial Christmas favorite from VocalEssence, one of the world's premiere choral groups, led by Philip Brunelle. Join host John Birge for an hour of traditional carols and new discoveries.

Artistic director Matthew Culloton of The Singers and host Scott Blankenship present an hour of holiday music for everybody. The program includes holiday favorites from The Singers' repertoire mixed together with music from the Great American Songbook as well, including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Ella Fitzgerald. Plus Steve Heitzig's "Little Tree" and the music of modern choral ensembles like Pentatonix and The King Singers.

Tune in on Wednesday 12/26 at 11 am CT.

Playlist

The internationally acclaimed “little 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’s Ari Shapiro, and co-produced by OPB and Murray Street Productions.

NPR Music brings you another great concert from Kennedy Center. Kenny Barron, Fred Hersch, and Carmen Staaf perform their favorite holiday songs in a program hosted by Felix Contreras.

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An updated version of a public radio tradition hosted by NPR's Susan Stamberg. Master comedian Jonathan Winters presents a distinctive reading of Dickens' holiday classic, with a special performing edition prepared by Dickens for his own presentations. Also featuring Mimi Kennedy.

Click here for more information or to hear or re-hear the program on-line.

Alt.Latino continues its homegrown tradition of celebrating the holidays in song with a special show featuring songwriter/performer Gaby Moreno. Vocalist Moreno brings a Muscle Shoals-tinged holiday celebration to this year's Festivo Alt.Latino. Classics from the U.S. and Latin America get a shimmering bluesy, R&B treatment from Moreno and her four-piece band in a performance recorded live in front of a studio audience at KUTX in Austin, Texas. There is plenty of joy and holiday spirit in both English and Spanish that will add a new dimension to the idea of holiday music.

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 edition of Harmonia brings listeners 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.

Tune in on Tuesday 12/25 at 7 pm CT and again on Tuesday 1/1 at 9 am CT.

The sounds of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir floated in to many homes during the holidays in the '60s & '70s on Goodyear and Firestone albums, bringing lush renditions of favorite Christmas carols. Those warm memories and feelings come right back again in this holiday special. The choir continues its tradition of great artistry with touching arrangements of familiar carols, and surprises with lesser-known melodies that are fast becoming the new classics.

Frank Dominguez hosts a special holiday edition of the national bi-lingual program that features music by Spanish and Latin American composers and performers presented in English and in Spanish. This edition features traditional Spanish language villancicos from 18th century Cuba, 19th century Uruguay, and 17th century Ecuador. You'll also hear sacred works by the Renaissance Spanish composer Tomas Luis de Victoria, the 20th century Spaniard Joaquin Rodrigo, and the Argentine composer Ariel Ramirez.

Tune in on Thursday 12/20 at 7 pm CT, and on Monday 12/24 at 10 am CT.

Direct from the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston, a Celtic celebration of the season, with top-flight traditional singers and instrumentalists, and a story or two from host Brian O’Donovan.

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NPR fills millions of homes each holiday with humor, warmth, and a host of festive voices. Continuing with the tradition of the first Tinsel Tales program, this is another collection of the best and most requested holiday stories. Joy, hope, and childhood memories overflow as NPR voices, past and present, tell stories of the season. The program is hosted by Lynn Neary and features these stories:

Join us for a very special holiday concert with Howard University's premiere vocal ensemble Afro Blue, and special guest pianist Cyrus Chestnut. The a-cappela group performs a variety of holiday songs including African-American spirituals, jazz and pop tunes, and classical repertoire. The joyous celebration includes one of a kind arrangements on traditional holiday songs plus new compositions... music perfect for the holidays and the spirit of Christmas. Hosted by Michele Norris.

One of the great holiday traditions in America, the choirs of Morehouse and Spelman Colleges -- two of the most prestigious historically black institutions in the nation -- get together to present a spine-tingling concert program. This encore presentation features the best works of the last several years. It's a joyous celebration of the schools' tradition of singing excellence, with their trademark mixture of spirituals and carols. Korva Coleman hosts.

HPPR presents Classical Christmas favorites:
- from 1 to 2 pm CT on Thursday 12/20
- from 1 to 4 pm CT on Friday 12/21
- from 2 to 4 pm CT on Monday 12/24
- from 3 to 4 pm CT on Tuesday 12/25
- from 3 to 4 pm CT on Wednesday 12/26
- from 7 to 8 pm CT on Wednesday 12/26 

Tinsel Tales #3 includes extraordinary Christmas stories that transport you to unexpected places. Baxter Black ponders the meaning of Christmas for Cows, Bailey White sneaks into her neighbor’s yard in search of an elusive hemlock tree; Julie Zickefoose serenades her neighbors on the coldest night of the year.   

Click here for more information or to hear or re-hear the program story segments on-line.

In an Echoes Christmas, we create a soundscape for winding down after all the Christmas celebrations have ebbed. It's a soundscape of carols that depart from the shopping mall repetition to send you into that long winter's night.

The Dinner Party Download is stuffed with holiday goodness. Hip-hop legend Darryl McDaniels, the "DMC" of Run DMC, riffs on his mega-hit "Christmas in Hollis" - and on the tenderness of Charlie Brown ... TV's "Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver injects some health into our holiday menu (but don't mess with his decadent cheese toasty) ... Humorist Fran Lebowitz keeps the season from getting too sappy with very tart etiquette tips ...

"Selected Shorts" offers a selection of four special episodes this holiday season featuring marquee guests hosts, like David Sedaris. Delight your listeners with these classic short stories narrated by some of the most talented actors from stage, screen and television!

Tune in on Monday 12/24 at 10 pm CT and Wednesday 12/26 at 10 am CT.

Celebrate the Return of the Sun -- and the Warming of the Earth with an exuberant Feast of Sound captured live in the majestic Cathedral of St. John the Divine. WNYC's John Schaefer hosts this all new performance, featuring the Paul Winter Consort with Paul McCandless, gospel singer Theresa Thomason, Danny Rivera -- the "National Voice of Puerto Rico”, and Abdel Salaam's Forces of Nature percussion and dance ensemble.

An NPR tradition every New Year's Eve since the 1970s, Toast of the Nation is the perfect audio complement for the occasion. It's jazz that you can party to, all night long with countdowns to midnight in all four continental time zones. Spirited, improvised, grooving and swinging, each segment is a stop in a sequence of celebrations, contributing something new to the musical feast. 7 hours of music will start at 9pm CST and continue throughout the night until 4am.  Hear the energy infused live concert recordings of Wynton Marsalis, Snarky Puppy, Wycliffe Gordon, and more.  Hosted by Rhonda Hamilton.