Celebrate the holidays with Public Radio Tulsa as we gift-wrap special programming for you from across the country and around the world.
Hanukkah Lights 2012
Wednesday, Dec 12 • 8pm-9pm
Public Radio 89.5-1
A perennial NPR favorite for nearly two decades, acclaimed authors explore Hanukkah stories and memoirs written expressly for Hanukkah Lights. Hosted by NPR's Susan Stamberg and Murray Horwitz.
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from Sharp Chapel
Sunday, Dec 16 • 4-5pm
Classical 88.7-1
One of the most beloved traditions of Advent and Christmas is a form of worship known as the "Festival of Lessons and Carols." The season is proclaimed and contemplated in a special sequence of readings, prayers, as well as choral and congregational song. This festival features readers from The University of Tulsa community and the T.U. Cappella Singers directed by Dr. Kim Childs.
A Choral Christmas with Stile Antico
Thursday, Dec 20 • 9-10pm
Classical 88.7-1
Celebrate Christmas with the sound of soaring voices. Stile Antico, the award-winning choir from London, pays a visit to St. Paul's Church on Harvard Square for a concert of radiant sacred music for the Christmas season by the most acclaimed composers of the renaissance. Hear the group's luminous blend of voices sing the intricately woven music of Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.
Tulsa Spotlight Brass Christmas
Friday, Dec 21 • noon-1:30pm
Classical 88.7-1
Recorded live in concert at The University of Tulsa's Lorton Performance Hall. Holiday favorites from a 10-piece brass band comprised of local Tulsa musicians with a passion for performance.
A Chanticleer Christmas
Friday, Dec 21 • 9-10pm
Classical 88.7-1
A Chanticleer Christmas is a 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 contemporary carols.
Paul Winter Solstice Concert
Friday, Dec 21 • 10pm-midnight
Public Radio 89.5-1
For two decades, Paul Winter's Solstice has been one of New York's and NPR's most popular holiday programs. Winter, the six-time Grammy-winning saxophonist, once again brings his ensemble and special guests to NPR in a performance from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, celebrating the Winter Solstice and the longest night of the year. Joining the Consort this year: Armenian vocalist/percussionist Arto Tunasboyaciyan, gospel singer Theresa Thomason, and the drummers of Forces of Nature Dance Theatre. The program features the American Premiere of the Consort's 2010 Grammy-winning suite Miho: Journey to the Mountain, and of course perennial Solstice favorites. As always, the star of the show is the Cathedral, which brings acoustic glory and esthetic majesty to the Celebration.
St. Olaf Christmas Festival
Saturday, Dec 22 • 8-10pm
Classical 88.7-1
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, and orchestral selections celebrating the Nativity and featuring more than 500 student musicians who are members of five choirs and the St. Olaf Orchestra.
The New York Philharmonic This Week
Sunday, Dec 23 • 1-4pm
Classical 88.7-1
Conductor Helmuth Rilling leads the New York Philharmonic, the Gaechinger Kantorei of Stuttgart, Germany, soloists soprano Annette Dash, countertenor Daniel Taylor, tenor James Taylor, and bass Shen Yang in George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
Monday, Dec 24 • 9-11am LIVE
Classical 88.7-1
Hosted by Michael Barone, this is a live 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.
Jonathan Winter’s Christmas Carol
Monday, Dec 24 • 11am-noon
Public Radio 89.5-1
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. From NPR and KCRW.
The Story of Christmas: A Pageant from Washington National Cathedral
Monday, Dec 24 • 5-6pm
Classical 88.7-1
This year’s annual special Christmas broadcast from the Washington National Cathedral with the Cathedral Girls’ Choir brings a unique performance of Benjamin Britten much-loved Ceremony of Carols, marking 70 years from its first performance in England in 1942. Often performed by boys and harp, its first performance was in London with women’s voices and the celebrated Welsh harpist Osian Ellis. The girls are joined by young actors from the Princeton Day School in Princeton, NJ, who present the biblical narrative in their own words and commentary.
All Songs Considered
Monday, Dec 24 • 7-8pm
Public Radio 89.5-1
It's the fourth edition of the not so new, wonky holiday tradition from NPR Music. Host Bob Boilen and friends trade holiday cheer and snarky barbs while bringing you the best holiday songs from new and emerging breakout bands. This show is filled with fun and fresh renditions of great holiday music.
Handel’s Messiah: The Christmas Portion
Monday, Dec 24 • 9-10pm
Classical 88.7-1
In 1742, exactly 270 years ago, the first performances of Handel’s Messiah were heard in Dublin. Each year the Dallas Bach Society offers exceptional performances of this landmark work of Western music in the Meyerson Hall in Dallas, arguably one of the finest concert halls in the world. This Messiah is historically informed in all the best senses: compact performing forces; period instruments; and generously expressive singing and playing. Host Bill McGlaughlin brings listeners the Christmas portion of Messiah along with the triumphant Hallelujah Chorus.
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
Monday, Dec 24 • 10-midnight
Classical 88.7-1
A repeat of the morning broadcast from the chapel of King’s College in Cambridge, England, to ring in Christmas Day.
Christmas Music
Tuesday, Dec 25 • All Day
Classical 88.7-1
Join KWTU’s musical hosts as they present music for the holiday, all day long.
Tinsel Tales: NPR Christmas Favorites
Tuesday, Dec 25 • 11am-noon
Public Radio 89.5-1
This program features stories from the NPR archives that touch on the meaning of Christmas. David Sedaris, Bailey White, John Henry Faulk -- these and other NPR voices, past and present, tell stories of the season. Hosted by Lynn Neary.
Featured Stories:
•Dad 'n' Sam (Jay Allison)
•Homeless Christmas (Lee Stringer)
•Christmas Morning, 1949 (Sylvia Seymour/Paul Auster)
•Low-Glamour Christmas Party (Bailey White)
•Doing it in the Closet (John McIlwraith)
•Christopher (Jay O'Callahan)
•Ode to Christmas (Chuck Kramer)
•Santaland Diaries (David Sedaris)
•Modern Day Joseph and Mary (Scott Simon)
• John Henry Faulk's Christmas Story (John Henry Faulk)
Tinsel Tales 2
Tuesday, Dec 25 • 7-8pm
Public Radio 89.5-1
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. Hosted by Lynn Neary.
Capitol Steps New Years Special
Saturday, Dec 29 • 11am-noon
Public Radio 89.5-1
The year in Review! More fun than counting ballots...it's New Year's Eve with the Capitol Steps!
The New York Philharmonic This Week
Sunday, Dec 30 • 1-3pm
Classical 88.7-1
New York Philharmonic presents a Winter Holiday Special featuring performances and recordings that evoke the holidays and family times together. Conductors Leonard Bernstein, Skitch Henderson, and actor Danny Kaye lead the Philharmonic in beloved classics like Prokofiev’s “Peter & The Wolf,” Mozart’s “Sleigh Ride” and Johann Strauss’s Overture to “Die Fledermaus”.
Toast of the Nation 2012
Monday, Dec 31 • 8pm-3am LIVE
Public Radio 89.5-2
Count down, sing along, and dance to live music all night long. Travel from coast to coast with four celebrations of midnight from time zone to time zone. It's the perfect holiday special for any New Year's event. Spirited, improvised, grooving, and swinging, with strings, horns, voices and drums, each segment is a stop in a sequence of parties, each one contributing something new to the musical feast. WBGO's Rhonda Hamilton anchors, with additional voices along the way.
Toast of the Nation 2013
Monday, Dec 31 • 10p-3am
Public Radio 89.5-1
Count down, sing along, and dance to live music all night long. Travel from coast to coast with four celebrations of midnight from time zone to time zone. It's the perfect holiday special for any New Year's party. (See details above.)
New Year’s Day from Vienna 2013
Tuesday, Jan 1 • 10am-noon LIVE
Classical 88.7-1
The Vienna Philharmonic presents its ever popular annual New Year's Day concert from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. It has long been a Philharmonic tradition at the New Year to present a program consisting of the lively and at the same time nostalgic music from the vast repertoire of the Johann Strauss family and its contemporaries. These concerts not only delight the audiences in the Musikverein in Vienna, but also enjoy great international popularity through the world wide television broadcast, which now reaches over 70 countries.
Originating during a dark period of Austria's history, these concerts were initially conceived for a local audience as a reminder of better times and a source of hope for the future. Today millions of people throughout the world are similarly encouraged by the light-hearted yet subtly profound character of this music, and draw joy and optimism for the New Year ahead.
It is the desire of the Philharmonic not only to provide musically definitive interpretations of the masterworks of this genre, but at the same time, as musical ambassadors of Austria, to send people all over the world a New Year's greeting in the spirit of hope, friendship and peace. This year’s program will be conducted by Franz Welser-Most, director of the Vienna State Opera.