Celebrate the holidays with WFIU! The following specials will help make your season bright:
Sunday, December 18
6:00 PM – Candles Burning Brightly
Explore Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, through Chanukah foods, traditional activities, and plenty of music.
Tuesday, December 20
8:00 PM – Ether Game: Festival of Carols
The Ether Game Brain Trust is getting into the Christmas spirit with some works that feature traditional Christmas carols. Hope you’re ready for a little fa-la-la-la.
9:00 PM – The Score: A Child’s Christmas
The kids are home from school, so gather the family around for a kid-centric holiday show. Recall the wonder of The Polar Express, discover holiday magic with The Rise of the Guardians, A Boy Called Christmas, and more
10:00 PM – Welcome Christmas
Enjoy classic holiday music from one of the world’s premiere choral groups, VocalEssence, conducted by Philip Brunelle.
Wednesday, December 21
8:00 PM – The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice
Celebrate the Winter holidays— Christmas, the Solstice, Chanukah, New Year’s, Jonkonnu, and Twelfth Night/Epiphany—with a variety of traditional music pieces excerpted from live Christmas Revels stage productions.
10:00 PM – Winter Holidays Around the World with Bill McGlaughlin
Join Exploring Music host Bill McGlaughlin as he takes us on an international musical journey through winter.
11:00 PM – A Chanticleer Christmas
Enjoy holiday favorites, new and old, presented live in concert by Chanticleer, the superb 12-man vocal ensemble.
Thursday, December 22
8:00 PM – Harmonia: Here We Come A-Wassailing: Music for the Winter Solstice
The longest and darkest of nights, the Winter Solstice has been observed across cultures with rituals and feasts celebrating the warmth of community and the return of the light. Nothing drives the cold winter away quite like a rousing tune, so join us for music in honor of the Winter Solstice.
9:00 PM – A Mexican Christmas with Newberry Consort & EnsAmble Ad-Hoc
This program of 17th-century traditional music features pieces commonly heard in both liturgical service and in the festive streets of Mexico City
10:00 PM – St Olaf Christmas Festival
Hear sacred choral and instrumental music from many traditions: beloved hymns, classical masterworks, folk songs from around the world, and African American spirituals.
11:00 PM – Apollo's Fire presents Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain: An Irish-Appalachian Celebration
Be transported from Christmas Eve in medieval Scotland to the folk carols and shape‐note hymns at a toe‐tapping Christmas gathering in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia.
Friday, December 23
8:00 PM – Afterglow: Christmas on the Air
For our Afterglow holiday show this year, we’ll be featuring some classic Christmas radio broadcasts, performed by favorite jazz singers Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and more.
9:00 PM – Night Lights: A Night Lights Wonderland
Night Lights celebrates the holidays with jazz from Fats Waller, Joe Williams, Claude Thornhill, and more.
Saturday, December 24
7:00 AM – Earth Eats
Drop in on a cookie baking workshop with kids at a food pantry, enjoy a hot cup of coffee on a chilly bike ride, and toast up a batch of maple granola for holiday gift giving. All that, plus chestnuts on this special episode of Earth Eats!
3:00 PM – A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols
This special features a service of Biblical readings, carols, and related seasonal classical music, presented by one of the world’s foremost choirs of men and boys performing at King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, England.
Sunday, December 25
6:00 PM – Selected Shorts: Holidays with Mom
Hear two humorous and nostalgic stories about being home for the holidays and how you can count on your mom to be there for you—and possibly to complicate things.
Tuesday, December 27
8:00 PM – Ether Game: Year in Review
With 2023 on the horizon, we'll look back on classical music moments from this year. Join us as we bid adieu to 2022.
9:00 PM – The Score: Santa’s Little Helpers
Ever wonder how Santa manages to get all those gifts to all those homes around the world? Well, he has help: reindeer in Prancer, angels in It’s a Wonderful Life, family members in Noelle, and, of course, many an elf.
Thursday, December 29
9:00 PM – Fiesta! Latin American Christmas Carols
A selection of villancicos, or Christmas carols, from Spain and Latin America are featured on this program. Join us for music that spans several centuries and a great diversity of influences and traditions.
Friday, December 30
8:00 PM – Afterglow: Let’s Begin: Songs for the New Year
Ring in the new year with Afterglow, as we explore songs and standards about new beginnings, including “Let’s Begin,” “Begin the Beguine,” and “I’m Beginning to See the Light.”