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WMRA/WEMC Holiday Schedule 2015

WMRA and WEMC Holiday Specials for 2015

Saturday, Dec. 19th
WMRA 12pm  Paul Winter's 35th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration
Celebrate the return of the sun and the warming of the heart with Paul Winter's All New 34th Winter Solstice Celebration. On the darkest night of the year, we head back to New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine to hear The Paul Winter Consort and the glorious Cathedral Pipe Organ. The performance brings traditional holiday favorites and new sounds from around the world with special guests Ivan Lins and RenatoBraz.

WMRA 2pm  Joy To The World - A Holiday in Pink
The internationally acclaimed "little orchestra" Pink Martini bedecks the airwaves with festive holiday songs from across the globe. From timeless classics to rarely heard gems, hear a multi-denominational, multi-cultural jubilee, overflowing with enough holiday spirit to warm your entire family. Hosted by All Things Considered's Ari Shapiro.

Sunday, Dec. 2oth
WEMC 7pm  A 20th Century English Christmas
This program celebrates the rich English choral tradition, and how it flourished in Christmas seasons throughout the 20th century.  Hear works by Benjamin Britten, Herbert Howells, William Walton and Elizabeth Poston, featuring performances by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, the Westminster Abbey Choir and the ensemble Polyphony.

WMRA 10pm  The 12 Questions of Christmas
A special presentation created by Washington and Lee University in partnership with WMRA. The 12 Questions of Christmas takes a light hearted approach to the season.  Hosted by Stephen Lind, W&L Business Communications professor and author of, "A Charlie Brown Religion: Exploring the Spiritual Life and Work of Charles M. Schulz," along with Amanda Bower, W&L Marketing professor.  They tackle a wide range of topics by discussing questions such as "when do you tell your kid that Santa isn't real," "is it legal to put a nativity in front of a court house," "what's the most popular Christmas song," and "should you go with a real tree or fake tree?"

Monday, Dec. 21st
WEMC 1pm  A Chanticleer Christmas
Nothing signals the beginning of the holiday season like 12 men singing in beautifully blended harmony. A Chanticleer Christmas is a one-hour celebration of the season as told through the glorious voices of Chanticleer, the 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 to Chanticleer's popular Gospel medley of Christmas tunes.

Tuesday, Dec. 22nd
WEMC 1pm  Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Join the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir, accompanied by the Orchestra at Temple Square, for their annual Christmas concert.

WMRA 7pm  A 20th Century English Christmas
This program celebrates the rich English choral tradition, and how it flourished in Christmas seasons throughout the 20th century.  Hear works by Benjamin Britten, Herbert Howells, William Walton and Elizabeth Poston, featuring performances by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, the Westminster Abbey Choir and the ensemble Polyphony.

Wednesday, Dec. 23rd
WEMC 1pm  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.

Thursday, Dec. 24th
WEMC 10am  A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
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.

WEMC 12pm  Welcome Christmas!
It's an hour of joyful holiday music featuring one of the world's premiere choral groups, VocalEssence, led by Philip Brunelle.

WEMC 1pm  A 20th Century English Christmas
This program celebrates the rich English choral tradition, and how it flourished in Christmas seasons throughout the 20th century.  Hear works by Benjamin Britten, Herbert Howells, William Walton and Elizabeth Poston, featuring performances by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, the Westminster Abbey Choir and the ensemble Polyphony.

WEMC 2pm  Hollywood Holiday
An hour of holiday movie music that ranges from the sentimental to the completely cranky. From "White Christmas" and cozy homes for the holidays, to Grinches and Scrooges, Hollywood Holiday takes in your favorite holiday movies from a musical point of view.

WMRA 3pm  Tinsel Tales 3: NPR Christmas Favorites
You tune to NPR for holiday stories of all kinds; funny, touching, insightful, and surprising. Hear the latest version of evergreen delights while driving to the mall, entertaining friends, or relaxing in front of a crackling fire. Hosted by Lynn Neary.

WMRA 7pm Jonathan Winters' A Christmas Carol
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.

Saturday, Dec. 26th
WMRA 12pm The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of The Winter Solstice
A two-hour musical celebration of the winter holidays - Christmas, the Solstice, New Year's, and Twelfth Night - featuring traditional carols, anthems, hymns, motets, wassails, spirituals, children's game-songs, and folk dance tunes excerpted from live Christmas Revels productions presented around the country.

WMRA 2pm A Season's Griot 2015
This one-hour celebration in story and song is public radio's only nationally syndicated Kwanzaa program. Hosted for nearly 20 years by acclaimed storyteller Madafo Lloyd Wilson, this annual special captures the tales and traditions of African American and African peoples.

Sunday, Dec. 27th
WEMC 7pm  The Christmas Story through Carols Old and New
This hour long choral music show tells the Christmas story through a variety of carols.  Each set focuses on a different part of the story, from the angels to Mary and the baby, the shepherds and how they spread the word of Jesus' birth.

Tuesday, Dec. 29th
WMRA 7pm  The Christmas Story through Carols Old and New
This hour long choral music show tells the Christmas story through a variety of carols.  Each set focuses on a different part of the story, from the angels to Mary and the baby, the shepherds and how they spread the word of Jesus' birth.

Thursday, Dec. 31st
WEMC 1pm  The Christmas Story through Carols Old and New
This hour long choral music show tells the Christmas story through a variety of carols.  Each set focuses on a different part of the story, from the angels to Mary and the baby, the shepherds and how they spread the word of Jesus' birth.

WMRA 3pm The Capitol Steps: Politics Takes a Holiday New Year’s Edition 2015
Help say good-bye and good riddance to 2015 with the Capitol Steps and their annual year-end review.  It’s all in their hour-long special of “Politics Takes a Holiday!”
            The Capitol Steps began as a group of Senate staffers who set out to satirize the very people and places that employed them.  In the years that followed, many of the Steps ignored the conventional wisdom ("Don't quit your day job!"), and although not all of the current members of the Steps are former Capitol Hill staffers, taken together, the performers have worked in a total of eighteen Congressional offices and represent 62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience.

Friday, Jan. 1st 
WEMC 11am  New Year's Day from Vienna 2016
The Vienna Philharmonic presents its ever popular annual New Year's Day concert from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. You'll hear your favorite waltzes, polkas and more -- a festive way to start off the New Year.

Sunday, Jan. 3rd
WEMC 7pm  Famous Firsts
Happy New Year!  For the first week of 2016, here's a program of famous firsts - from Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, and Debussy.  They're famous not just because they're the first of their kind -  they're famous because they're stunning pieces of music.

Tuesday, Jan. 5th
WMRA 7pm  Famous Firsts
Happy New Year!  For the first week of 2016, here's a program of famous firsts - from Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, and Debussy.  They're famous not just because they're the first of their kind -  they're famous because they're stunning pieces of music.

Thursday, Jan. 7th
WEMC 1pm  Famous Firsts
Happy New Year!  For the first week of 2016, here's a program of famous firsts - from Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, and Debussy.  They're famous not just because they're the first of their kind -  they're famous because they're stunning pieces of music.

Matt Bingay is the Executive Director and General Manager for WMRA and WEMC.