This holiday season, make VPR and VPR Classical part of your celebrations and enjoy a variety of special programs, ranging from traditional to new.
Click here for a printable version of our holiday program schedule.
Thursday, Dec. 18
9 p.m. on VPR: Hanukkah Lights
A listener favorite, this year’s Hanukkah Lights features new stories written by acclaimed authors, including Debra Ginsberg, Anne Burt, Simone Zelitch, Andrew Borowitz and Theodore Bikel. Enjoy an eclectic variety of Hanukkah stories hosted by Susan Stamberg and Murray Horwitz.
Friday, Dec. 19
7 p.m. on VPR: Vermont Edition Music Show
Jane Lindholm hosts Vermont Edition’s annual music show, this year talking to listeners about what songs encapsulated the past year. Ranging from old and new, to funny and serious, listen in for some amazing songs and stories from 2014. Learn more about the show and how to participate here.
Sunday, Dec. 21
11 a.m. on VPR Classical: The VPR Choral Hour Holiday Show
12 p.m. on VPR Classical: VPR Classical Holiday Concert with Seraphic Fire
1 p.m. on VPR Classical: Holiday Pops from the Boston Pops
7 p.m. on VPR: All The Traditions Light Show
Host Robert Resnick plays three hours of “light” songs to celebrate the winter solstice.
10 p.m. on VPR: Paul Winter Consort Solstice Show
Celebrate the return of the sun and the warming of the heart with Paul Winter's 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.
Monday, Dec. 22
8 p.m. on VPR Classical: St. Olaf Christmas Festival
Tuesday, Dec. 23
8 p.m. on VPR Classical: The VPR Choral Hour Holiday Episode
9 p.m. on VPR Classical: Harmonia: A Baroque Christmas in the New World
Wednesday, Dec. 24
8:45 a.m. on VPR: Willem Lange’s original story “Favor Johnson”
A VPR tradition, this story of a Vermont farmer, his dog, Hercules, and a fruitcake is told by VPR Commentator Willem Lange.
10 a.m. on VPR Classical: A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
12 p.m. on VPR: Willem Lange’s reading of Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol”
VPR commentator Willem Lange reads the holiday classic A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
6 p.m. on VPR Classical: And Glory Shone All Around: An Early-American Christmas with the Rose Ensemble
7 p.m. on VPR: A Seraphic Fire Christmas
VPR Presents our annual Holiday Concert, this year with the talented young vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire. Recorded live in St. Johnsbury earlier this December, the group performs seasonal favorites from the Renaissance to present day.
8 p.m. on VPR Classical: VSO on VPR Classical
Blanche Moyse conducts the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Blanche Moyse Chorale and soloists in highlights from Handel's Messiah from December, 1992.
9 p.m. on VPR Classical: Light and Gold with Eric Whitacre
Thursday, Dec. 25
12 p.m. on VPR: Song Travels with Michael Feinstein, featuring Patty Austin
Known as “The Queen of Jingles,” Patty Austin is a prolific musician who has sang with Michael Jackson, George Benson and Luther Vandross. Austin joins Michael Feinstein to talk about their mutual admiration for Quincy Jones, Sammy Davis Junior and the Gershwin brothers.
3 p.m. on VPR Classical: VPR Classical Holiday Concert with Seraphic Fire
6 p.m. on VPR Classical: Welcome, Christmas! With Vocal Essence
Dec. 25 on VPR: At 7 p.m. Grammy-nominated country singer Chris Young and guitarist Kevin Collier join Michael Feinstein on "Song Travels" to perform a set of original songs and old favorites, including I Left My Heart in San Francisco.
7 p.m. on VPR: Song Travels with Michael Feinstein, featuring Chris Young
Grammy-nominated country singer Chris Young and guitarist Kevin Collier join Michael Feinstein to perform a set of original songs and old favorites, including I Left My Heart in San Francisco.
8 p.m. on VPR Classical: A Leroy Anderson Christmas
9 p.m. on VPR Classical: A Chanticleer Christmas
Friday, Dec. 26
7 p.m. on VPR: A Season’s Griot
Public radio's only nationally syndicated Kwanzaa program, A Season’s Griot has been hosted for nearly 20 years by acclaimed storyteller Madafo Lloyd Wilson. This annual one-hour special captures the tales and traditions of African American and African people.
Wednesday, Dec. 31
7 p.m. on VPR: Capitol Steps
Politics takes a holiday. The Capital Steps roast 2014 in humor and song.
9 p.m. on VPR: Toast of the Nation
A New Year's Eve tradition since the 1970s, Toast of the Nation is the perfect program for the holiday. It's jazz that you can party to, all night from to coast, with countdowns to midnight in all four continental time zones. Spirited, improvised, grooving and swinging, each segment is a stop in a sequence of celebrations and contributing something new to the musical feast.
Thursday, Jan. 1
11 a.m. on VPR Classical: New Year’s Day Live from Vienna
We hope everyone has a fun, safe holiday season!