Celebrate the holidays with WSIU Public Radio and American Public Media! During the month of December we hope you enjoy our diverse, reflective, and entertaining line up of special holiday music programs.
WSIU begins our special coverage celebrating Chanukah with Candles Burning Brightly on December 4 from 8:00 pm-9:00 pm. Join hosts Mindy Ratner and Bill Morelock for a one-hour celebration of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. There's plenty of music from Jewish communities around the world, plus an exploration of holiday traditions, and a special story reading by the incomparable Theodore Bikel.
Join WSIU Radio on December 9th from 8:00 pm-9:00 pm for Advent Voices a one hour special of contemplative music for the season, hosted by Lynne Warfel.
December 16th from 8:00 pm -9:00pm join us for Welcome Christmas!It’s an hour of joyful holiday music featuring the Minneapolis-based chorus, VocalEssence, and hosted for the fifteenth year by APM’s John Birge. Gramophone magazine called VocalEssence “excellent and vibrant.” NEA Chairman Dana Gioia named them “one of the irreplaceable music ensembles of our time.” Join us in December for holiday classics new and old, when Philip Brunelle and VocalEssence Welcome Christmas!
December 19th from 8:00 pm-9:00 pm join WSIU Radio for A Chanticleer Christmas. 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.
On December 23rd from 8:00 pm-10:00pm it's the St. Olaf Christmas Festival. A service in song and word that has become one of the nation’s most cherished holiday celebrations. 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.
On Christmas day join WSIU Radio for an encore performances of A Chanticleer Christmas at 12:00 pm followed by Welcome Christmas at 1:00 pm.
Then at 8:00 pm join us for A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Hosted by Michael Barone, this is a music and spoken-word broadcast recorded live 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.
Happy Holidays from WSIU Public Radio!
