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Joy and Serenity for the Holidays on WCRB

Holly berries and leaves
Jorien Loman
/
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Holly berries and leaves

Throughout December, make WCRB your home for holiday music!

From Messiah to The Nutcracker and beyond, let holiday music ring out this season! We're playing festive favorites for Christmas and all the winter holidays this December on 99.5 WCRB, including on WCRB In Concert, The Bach Hour, and The Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Sunday, Dec. 1, 7pm: WCRB In Concert with Boston Camerata

On WCRB In Concert with The Boston Camerata, Artistic Director Anne Azéma leads a celebration of the holiday season with music from the Renaissance and early Baroque, ranging from sacred songs to instrumental fantasias and choral masterpieces.

Sunday, Dec. 8, 7pm: WCRB In Concert with Blue Heron

On WCRB In Concert with Blue Heron, the acclaimed vocal ensemble transports us to the 1440s through carols, plainchant, hymns, and mass settings for the season.

Wednesday, Dec. 11, 7:30pm: GBH Music's Holiday Spectacular!

Celebrate the season with traditional carols, festive brass, jubilant jazz, and seasonal classics, live from our Calderwood Studio! Get tickets to be there in person, or register to watch online.

Sunday, Dec. 15, 7pm: WCRB in Concert with Boston Baroque

On WCRB In Concert with Boston Baroque, Martin Pearlman conducts Handel’s beloved oratorio — a timeless story of faith, redemption, and joy.

Sunday, Dec. 22, 7pm: WCRB In Concert with The Boston Pops

On WCRB In Concert with the Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart leads the Pops and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a dazzling celebration of the season at Symphony Hall, featuring a special visit from Kris Kringle himself!

Sundays, 6am: The Bach Hour

Dec. 1: Masaaki Suzuki conducts the Cantata No. 62, a piece written for the quiet meditation of Advent, and the Academy for Ancient Music Berlin performs the Orchestral Suite No. 2.

Dec. 8: Nikolaus Harnoncourt leads the majestic Cantata No. 61, expressing the anticipation of Advent, and Catrin Finch brings the beauty of the Goldberg Variations to the harp.

Dec. 15: Philippe Herreweghe conducts the exuberant Magnificat in its original version for the season, including the rarely heard Christmas interpolations.

Dec. 22: Organist Gerhard Weinberger plays Bach’s Canonic Variations on “Vom Himmel hoch,” a masterpiece for Advent performed on an instrument Bach himself played when it was new, and John Eliot Gardiner conducts another work for the season, the Cantata 132.

Dec. 29: Philippe Herreweghe conducts the extroverted Cantata No. 63, “Christians, Etch This Day in Metal and Marble!”, one of the composer’s earliest works written for Christmas Day.

Jan. 5: John Eliot Gardiner leads the Cantata No. 190, “Sing to the Lord a New Song,” written for New Year’s Day, and pianist Igor Levit plays the Partita No. 5.

Looking for continuous holiday music? We have three different 24-hour streams, filled with the most beautiful classical holiday music, available here, in the player at the top of our homepage, on your smart speaker, and in the CRB Classical app.

Perfect Holiday Party Soundtrack

WCRB's Perfect Holiday Party Soundtrack - Traditional holiday favorites that keep your mood festive and warm. From "Winter Wonderland" to "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas" to "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and everything in between.

Ultimate Holiday Classical Mix

WCRB's Ultimate Holiday Classical Mix - All of the traditional classics, plus carols from across centuries and around the globe.

Heavenly Holiday Classics

WCRB's Heavenly Holiday Classics - From baroque to renaissance and beyond, this stream features choral and symphonic masterpieces, like Handel’s Messiah, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, and more.

To listen to our holiday streams on Amazon Alexa:

Go to Amazon.com or open your Alexa app on your phone and search for WCRB Holiday streams and click enable. Then the following voice commands will work.

Say "Alexa, Open WCRB Holiday Streams."

Once the skill is enabled, you can say:

"Play Perfect Holiday Party," or
"Play Ultimate Holiday Classical Mix," or
"Play Heavenly Holiday Classics."

It will also prompt you with a menu of the three stream options.

There is currently no Google Home skill for the holiday streams.

Explore holiday music with selections from our blog!


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