December 18th
8pm A Handel & Haydn Society Christmas
(also airs Christmas Eve at 11am)
Celebrate the season with this hour-long special featuring Christmas choral music from America’s oldest continuously performing ensemble, Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society.
December 19th
9am Sharing Traditions and Carols of Christmas
(also airs Dec. 23 at 9pm and Christmas Day at noon)
The holiday season is a time spent with family and friends – making memories and starting traditions.
Join us for Sharing traditions and carols of Christmas – a local favorite featuring music of the season along with delightful conversation between award winning songwriter of contemporary Christian Music, the late Kurt Kaiser – and his daughter Kris.
11am Your Classical Christmas Favorites
(also airs Dec. 23rd at 8pm)
You ranked your favorite holiday tunes. Now, we’ve tallied the results to create Your Classical Christmas Favorites, an hour holiday special highlighting the top carols based on your votes. hosts Tom Crann and Valerie Kahler.
December 20th
9am FILM SCORE: MUSIC FOR THE HOLIDAYS
(also airs Christmas Day at 3pm)
The Film Score: Music for the Winter Holidays is an hour-long special devoted to holiday and wintertime movie music. In addition to beloved standards Michael Phillips shares an eclectic mix of wintry film scores, ranging from “It Happened in Sun Valley” (from “Sun Valley Serenade”) to Alexandre Desplat’s folk-inspired score for “The Grand Budapest Hotel” to Bernard Herrmann’s bracing sleigh ride accompaniment composed for the Orson Welles drama “The Magnificent Ambersons.” Bundle up and enjoy The Film Score: Music for the Winter Holidays!
December 21st
7pm I Hear America Singing Holiday edition
(also airs Dec. 22nd at 9pm)
From the KWBU archives we feature a holiday program with Ross Burn and a playlist of traditional and not so traditional seasonal songs.
December 22nd
7pm Broadway on the Brazos Christmas Special
(also airs Christmas Day at 10am)
Celebrate the season with Broadway on the Brazos! Our holiday episode, hosted by KWBU's Beth Richards, brings the magic of Broadway to your festivities with a collection of songs that capture the spirit of Christmas. From timeless classics to unexpected gems, discover how Broadway has embraced the holidays with heartwarming melodies, playful tunes, and unforgettable stories. Perfect for adding a theatrical touch to your holiday celebrations!
8pm A Swinging Holiday Jazz Party with Wynton Marsalis
(also airs Christmas Eve at 7pm)
Wynton Marsalis hosts an hour of holiday jazz favorites by Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Gregory Porter, René Marie, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
December 23rd
11am A Mexican Baroque Christmas with the Rose Ensemble
(also airs Christmas Day at 1pm)
This holiday program features over two centuries of festive Christmas dances and songs from the great cathedrals of Puebla and Mexico City.
8pm Your Classical Christmas Favorites (rpt)
9pm Sharing Traditions and Carols of Christmas (rpt)
December 24th
9am Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols presents your audience with an opportunity to share in a live, world-wide Christmas Eve broadcast of a service of Biblical readings, carols, and related seasonal Classical music.
This special will be presented by one of the world’s foremost choirs of men and boys and performed in an acoustically and architecturally renowned venue, the 500-year-old Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, England.
11am Handel and Hayden (rpt)
12pm KWBU’s Adaptation of A Christmas Carol
(also airs Christmas Day at 7pm)
A Christmas Classic produced for radio by KWBU’s Beth Richards with the cast featuring voices you know from KWBU – both staff and volunteers. See if you recognize David Smith, Robert Darden, Ross Burns and others in the holiday special.
1pm SHOUT! A Black Gospel Christmas with Robert Darden
(also airs Christmas Day at 5pm)
Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments host Robert Darden hosts this holiday program highlighting some of the best in black gospel Christmas music.
2pm David and Art Jazz Holiday Jazz 2023 Revisited
(also airs Christmas Day at 6pm)
David Smith, host of David and Art, has pulled together an hour of spectacular jazzy holidays tunes. In addition to great music, David will share stories and fun facts about the music that will put a pep in your step this holiday season.
3pm Malcom Foster’s Yuletide Jamboree!
(also airs Christmas Day at 2pm)
Tired of the same old Christmas music, year in, year out? Looking for something...different? Then join Malcolm Foster for his Yuletide Jamboree! An hour of British Christmas quirks and a selection of festive songs that you're not likely to encounter in the wild.
4pm Festivo Alt Latino
NPR Music’s Alt.Latino goes back a decade for this 2014 encore featuring songwriter/performer Gaby Moreno and her band performing tracks from her popular holiday album Posada - recorded live at the KUT studios in Austin, Texas. She was joined by special guests Gina Chavez and Chicano Zen bandleader and record producer Michael Ramos. Hosted by Felix Contreras
5pm Mark O’Connor’s An Appalachian Christmas
Mark O’Connor, famous bluegrass fiddler and respected American composer, leads the O’Connor Band and special guest Nancy Ives, principal cellist of the Oregon Symphony, in An Appalachian Christmas.
6pm A Special Thistle & Shamrock Christmas
Join Fiona Ritchie for a winter walk along the banks of the River Tay in Scotland, accompanied by music from the Celtic Christmas repertoire. Among restored riverside woodlands, Fiona finds her favorite bench, and sits there to reflect upon the scenes of midwinter. The location inspires seasonal tales, joyful songs, and tunes of rare beauty, with guitarist Tim Edey, singer Emily Smith, and more.
7pm A Swinging Holiday Jazz Party with Wynton Marsalis (repeat)
8pm Dee Alexander’s Christmas Soul Celebration
(also airs Christmas Day at 4pm)
A brand new special to bring you holiday cheer for 2024! Whether you have loved America’s Soul Music tradition all your life, or are first experiencing its riches now, Chicago’s First Lady of Jazz Dee Alexander has a hand-picked selection of Christmas classics by great Soul artists just for you! This wonderful special is perfect for celebrating the season with friends and family. Great instrumentalists like pianist Eric Reed and saxophonist Gene Ammons, and the group Take 6 guarantee your Christmas will be soulful
9pm Jazz Piano Christmas 40
Your favorite holiday classics as you’ve never heard them! The Kennedy Center and NPR present A Jazz Piano Christmas, the annual sell-out event featuring jazz-infused renditions of the season’s most-loved music. This year, we spotlight remarkable pianist, vocalist, and actress Melvis Santa—whose eclectic Afro-Cuban style has made her one of the most electrifying artists on the scene—in addition to internationally acclaimed Cuban composer and jazz pianist Alfredo Rodriguez. Hosted by Felix Contreras.
10pm Classical Christmas Through the Night
December 25th
12am – 10am Classical Christmas
10am Broadway on the Brazos Christmas Special
11am A Chanticleer Christmas
The beloved, Grammy-winning men’s chorus brings its “rich, intricately blended sound” (The Washington Post) to its signature holiday celebration. The centuries-spanning program ranges from Renaissance masterworks to roof-raising spirituals.
12pm Sharing Traditions and Carols of Christmas
1pm A Mexican Baroque Christmas with the Rose Ensemble
2pm Malcom Foster’s Yuletide Jamboree!
3pm FILM SCORE: MUSIC FOR THE HOLIDAYS
4pm Dee Alexander’s Christmas Soul Celebration
5pm SHOUT! A Black Gospel Christmas with Robert Darden
6pm David and Art Jazz Holiday Jazz 2023 Revisited
7pm KWBU’s Adaptation of A Christmas Carol
(8pm Return to regular programming)
December 26
11am A Chanukah Celebration with Chicago a cappella
Join Jonathan Miller, artistic director of Chicago a cappella and a longtime champion of Jewish choral music, for an inspiring and informative show featuring choral music set to Chanukah texts.
7pm The Sounds of Kwanzaa
The Sounds of Kwanzaa with Garrett McQueen