There’s a lot to like about the holidays – good food, gift-giving (and receiving!), time spent with friends and cherished family traditions. But one of the best things about the Christmas season is the music.
Of course, you’ve already been hearing holiday selections as part of our daily hosted music programs on Classical 101. But we're also celebrating 10 days of Christmas with holiday specials, starting with a perennial favorite Dec. 16. Tune in for some traditional favorites, along with local performances and some new specials by our hosts.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, our hosts will be spending time with family and friends. But we wanted you to know we’re thinking of you, so each of our hosts has produced an hour-long program of holiday music.
Spend the holidays with Classical 101 and unwrap these presents we’ve left under the tree for you.
Sunday, Dec. 16
6 p.m. St. Olaf Christmas Festival
8 p.m. A Columbus Christmas
Monday, Dec. 17
8 p.m. Chatham Baroque: A Jubilant Season
Tuesday, Dec. 18
8 p.m. Welcome Christmas!
Wednesday, Dec. 19
8 p.m. Carols and Cheer
Thursday, Dec. 20
8 p.m. A Chanticleer Christmas
Saturday, Dec. 22
Noon. Hollywood Holiday
Sunday, Dec. 23
7 p.m. Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
8 p.m. Columbus Symphony: Handel's Messiah
Monday, Dec. 24
9 a.m. Angelic Voices
10 a.m. A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
5 p.m. A Quiet Christmas
7 p.m. Columbus Symphony: Holiday Pops
Tuesday, Dec. 25
6 a.m. Chants and Revels for Christmas
7 a.m. Christmas Around the World
5 p.m. A Chanticleer Christmas
7 p.m. An English Christmas
Tuesday, Jan. 1
11 a.m. New Year's Day from Vienna
Program Details
St. Olaf Christmas Festival
Sunday, Dec. 16, 6 p.m.
This service in song and word has become one of the nation's most cherished holiday celebrations. The festival includes hymns, carols and choral works, as well as orchestral selections celebrating the Nativity and featuring more than 500 student musicians in five choirs, plus the St. Olaf Orchestra. Host Valerie Kahler shares the sights and sounds of this choral favorite.
A Columbus Christmas
Sunday, Dec. 16, 8 p.m.
During Musica Sacra, Christopher Purdy shares a festive collection of performances from groups around Central Ohio.
Chatham Baroque: A Jubilant Season
Monday, Dec. 17, 8 p.m.
Ring in the holiday season with Baroque music performed by internationally renowned Chatham Baroque. Since 1990, Chatham Baroque has excited local, national and international audiences with dazzling technique and lively interpretations of 17th- and 18th-century music played on instruments of the period.
Welcome Christmas!
Tuesday, Dec. 18, 8 p.m.
Welcome Christmas! is a perennial favorite from VocalEssence, one of the world’s premier choral ensembles. Join host John Birge for an hour of traditional carols and new discoveries, including the world premiere of two carols from the annual Christmas Carol Contest.
Carols and Cheer
Wednesday, Dec. 19, 8 p.m.
Host Scott Blankenship reviews his favorite carols this holiday season on Carols and Cheer. Audiences will love singing along as he shares his top picks for the Christmas season, performed by today's leading artists and ensembles.
A Chanticleer Christmas
Thursday, Dec. 20, 8 p.m.
Celebrate the season with song! Brian Newhouse hosts A Chanticleer Christmas, a one-hour program of a cappella holiday favorites, new and old, presented live in concert by the superb 12-man choral ensemble known as "an orchestra of voices."
Hollywood Holiday
Saturday, Dec. 22, noon
Lynne Warfel presents an hour-long musical retrospective of some of Hollywood's most cherished Christmas-themed movies.
Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Sunday, Dec. 23, 7 p.m.
The world-renowned Tabernacle Choir continues its tradition this holiday season, with touching arrangements of familiar carols, and lesser-known melodies that are fast becoming the new classics. Julie Amacher hosts this annual favorite.
Columbus Symphony: Handel's Messiah
Sunday, Dec. 23, 8 p.m.
Can’t imagine the holidays without Handel’s Messiah? The Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s performance of the baroque masterwork with conductor Rossen Milanov airs during Musica Sacra.
Angelic Voices
Christmas Eve, 9 a.m.
Saturday host and Classical 101 program director Cheryl Dring has compiled a program of music performed by the angelic voices of children. You’ll hear the Vienna Boys Choir and the Columbus Children’s Choir among others. Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols anchors the program.
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
Christmas Eve, 10 a.m.
An annual and beloved Christmas tradition, this is an extraordinary and memorable live service of word and music from the chapel of King’s College in Cambridge, England.
Audiences will share in a live, worldwide Christmas Eve broadcast of a service including Biblical readings, carols and related seasonal music (anthems a cappella and with organ accompaniment, and congregational hymns), presented by one of the world’s foremost choirs of men and boys and performed in an acoustically and architecturally renowned venue.
This year’s broadcast will be the last service for Stephen Cleobury, who has conducted the chapel choir since 1982. Cleobury will retire from his King’s College post at the end of the 2019 school term.
A Quiet Christmas
Christmas Eve, 5 p.m.
Afternoon host Kent Teeters has prepared a program for quiet contemplation amidst the holiday hubbub.
Columbus Symphony: Holiday Pops
Christmas Eve, 7 p.m.
There's more from your Columbus Symphony Orchestra on Christmas Eve. Enjoy the perennial favorite Columbus Symphony Holiday Pops as the CSO Chorus, the Columbus Children’s Choir and BalletMet join the orchestra.
Chants and Revels for Christmas
Christmas Day, 6 a.m.
Host Christopher Purdy wakes up the children with music to celebrate the season, from liturgical to lively. Sing, dance, be loud and be contemplative. Chants and Revels for Christmas invites you to celebrate the holidays with joy.
Christmas Around the World
Christmas Day, 7 a.m.
Following Santa’s lead, host Boyce Lancaster circumnavigates the globe, spreading Christmas cheer!
A Chanticleer Christmas
Christmas Day, 5 p.m.
Celebrate the season with song! Brian Newhouse hosts A Chanticleer Christmas, a one-hour program of a cappella holiday favorites, new and old, presented live in concert by the superb 12-man choral ensemble known as "an orchestra of voices."
An English Christmas
Tuesday, Dec. 25, 7 p.m.
Jennifer Hambrick brings you music steeped in the rich traditions of English folksong and Anglican and Catholic church music. This program features performances by Chanticleer, the Baltimore Consort, the London Symphony Orchestra and others.
New Year's Day from Vienna
Tuesday, Jan. 1, 11 a.m.
OK, we admit this one goes beyond the aforementioned 10 days – nor is it Christmas music. But it is a holiday tradition. Once again, NPR is offering the ever-popular New Year’s Day concert from Vienna. Get your fill of waltzes, polkas and other festive offerings, live from the stage of the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna with conductor Christian Thielemann.
