NSPR holiday programming will help you get in the holiday spirit and carry you through the New Year. We invite you to tune into all these specials on weeknights from 8 to 9.
Monday, 12/13, Hollywood Holiday
- Lynne Warfel takes listeners on a one-hour musical retrospective of some of Hollywood's most cherished Christmas-themed movies, including Scrooge, the Musical, A Muppet Christmas Carol, and It's A Wonderful Life.
Tuesday, 12/14, All Is Bright
- This program uses sacred choral music grouped in a way to tell the traditional Christmas story by way of songs about angels, the star, and the manger scene.
Wednesday, 12/15, A Chanticleer Christmas
- This program of holiday favorites, new and old, will be presented live in concert by Chanticleer, the superb 12-man ensemble known as "an orchestra of voices."
Thursday, 12/16, St. Olaf Christmas
- Programming includes sacred choral and instrumental music from many traditions: beloved hymns, classical masterworks, folk songs worldwide, and Black spirituals.
Friday, 12/17, Morehouse-Spellman Christmas Concert
- 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.
Monday 12/20, A Soulful Christmas
- An uplifting display of Black music in the classical, gospel, spiritual, and jazz-inspired style. This special celebrates the non-idiomatic Black classical music while exploring non-idiomatic choral traditions.
Tuesday,12/21, Jazz Piano Christmas
- From the Kennedy Center and NPR, pianists perform their favorite seasonal music, with George Cables, Latin all-star Rebeca Mauleón, and Mark G. Meadows.
Wednesday, 12/22, A Mexican Baroque Christmas
- This holiday program features more than two centuries of festive Christmas dances and songs from the great cathedrals of Puebla and Mexico City.
Thursday,12/23, Jazz Night in America Holiday Celebration
- You'll hear the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, plus guest vocalists Catherine Russell and Kenny Washington. Christian McBride hosts.
Friday, 12/24, Thistle and Shamrock Christmas
- Cerys Matthews narrates excerpts from the Dylan Thomas holiday classic, "A Child's Christmas in Wales."
Friday, 12/31, Toast of the nation., 7 p.m. to midnight
- Featuring music from The Catherine Russell Trio recorded at Dizzy Club at Jazz At Lincoln Center in NYC; The Jazz Gallery All-Stars, recorded at the Kennedy Center in Washington; KOKOROKO, recorded at Royal Albert Hall in London; Pink Martini, recorded in Portland, Oregon.