KUNC: Holiday Programming on KUNC (2004-12-17)

Friday, December 24

9am - Festival Of Nine Lessons & Carols

One live, 90-minute stereo music and spoken-word broadcast from the chapel of King's College in Cambridge, England presenting the legendary A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service as performed by the 30-voice King's College Choir.

11am - Judy Collins Holiday Folk Tour

Judy Collins hosts an all-new hour-long tour around the nation featuring musical takes on the holiday season with artists including Trout Fishing in America, Steve Earle and Maria McKee, Tish Hinojosa, Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull, Bill Miller, Blind Boys of Alabama with Tom Waits, and others.

12pm - Joy To The World

Join Bob Thompson, his fabulous jazz band, and a special guest this year, vocalist Fontella Bass of "Rescue Me" fame for an hour-long, mood-warming jazzy holiday special. Joy to the World 2004 marks the 11th season of this holiday favorite. Taped live last December before a sold-out audience at the Cultural Center Theater in Charleston, WV, the show has become a Charleston holiday season kickoff. This year's show features exceptional music arrangements, including Thompson's own take on "The First Noel" and "Ding Dong! Merrily on High," and Bass' arrangement of "Go Tell It on the Mountain."

1pm - Christmas Stocking

Host Glenn Mitchell is an authority on all things Christmas he even teaches a course on Christmas history at Southern Methodist University. Using an audio library more than 30 years in the making, he delivers music, trivia, and interviews with musicologists, historians, writers, astronomers, and theologians to present a treasure chest of holiday goodies. Listeners enjoy stories, oddities, history, vignettes, readings, anecdotes, and trivia.

6pm - Boston Pops Christmas

A Boston classic returns.. hear the world's most famous orchestra (and one of its most popular conductors!) on their "home turf" - Symphony Hall in Boston - performing music for the holidays under the leadership of charismatic conductor Keith Lockhart. From WGBH and NPR.

8pm - Chanticleer Christmas

The twelve men of Chanticleer, one of America's premiere vocal ensembles, have been called "an orchestra of voices." The group is especially celebrated for their holiday programs, in concert and on three best-selling CDs. For 2004, NPR and KUNC will present a program with Chanticleer at the St. Vincent Church in Petaluma, California, showcasing the group's Grammy Award-winning style in everything from renaissance Christmas hymns to Music Director Joseph Jennings' own close-harmony arrangements of holiday classics.

9pm - Concordia Christmas Concert

The annual Concordia College Christmas Concert is a long-standing tradition. Now in its 79th year, it is a true favorite of audiences in the Upper Midwest during the Christmas season. The program led by artistic director Rene Clausen tells the story of Christmas with new arrangements of old favorites, plus grand performances from the over 400 musicians of music by John Rutter, Michael Haydn and William Mathias.

10pm - Sonic Seasonings

This year, Sonic Seasonings creates a seasonal soundscape from ancient Aramaic
hymns to the story of Genesis from Apollo 8, all tied together in Celtic fantasies.
Sonic Seasonings 2004 takes listeners on a sleigh ride to living room concerts
from Malibu to Philadelphia, celebrating the Christmas season with ageless music from the ancient past to a possible future with Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning, SAVAE, Banshee in the Kitchen and the Ministry of Inside Things.

Saturday, Christmas DAy

9am - Carols For Christmas

Performed at the splendid Basilica of the National Shrine, some 200 voices from the great churches of Washington perform with the exciting young talent from the National Opera to present this unique program of much-loved carols. Listeners enjoy traditional favorites, such as "Joy to the World" and "Adeste Fideles." They also hear soloists performing "Cantique d'noel" (O, Holy Night), excerpts from Berlioz popular "Enfance du Chris," long-standing favorite "Ave Maria" by Gounod, festive works by Verdi and Puccini, and a hallelujah chorus.

11am - Handel's Messiah

NPR and CBC/Radio Canada join forces for an international broadcast of Handel's masterpiece, featuring an American orchestra with a Canadian conductor and choir. Quebec City conductor Bernard Labadie leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the singers of his hometown Chapelle de Quebec, and four world-class soloists for an all-star performance of this holiday classic, live from the stunning acoustics of the new Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

2pm - American Routes

Nick Spitzer delivers two hours of great holiday and seasonal music. He'll also bring you a live recording of the Zion Harmonizers, coming to carol at the studio. And don't bother keeping the receipt--we're sure you'll want to hang onto this present.

4pm - PHC

On December 25th, Christmas Day, Garrison is making special in-home, holiday visits with cast members from A Prairie Home Companion. This unique Christmas show is a delightful mix of all that you love about APHC Christmas Past -- Guy Noir, The News from Lake Wobegon -- with some heart-warming Keillor conversation mixed in. A wonderful surprise for the holiday!

7pm - Celtic Christmas

The entire event captures the true spirit of a Celtic Christmas and takes place in a renovated art-house theatre with warm acoustics and a rapt audience. The performances span the wild kitchen-party abandon of Cherish the Ladies, the poignant story and song about the Christmas Truce of 1914 during World War I, and a reading by one of Ireland's finest poets, Patrick Kavanagh's "A Christmas Childhood."

8pm - The Pleasures of Winter

The Pleasures of Winter 2004 is a live-performance music special hosted by folk duo Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, and recorded at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, NY. The music ranges from a unique selection of lively seasonal offerings to deeply moving pieces that reflect the more thoughtful and reflective side of winter and the holiday season. Interspersed are humorous, thought-provoking seasonal readings.