WRKF celebrates the holiday season with music, tradition, food, and storytelling. Join WRKF Baton Rouge Public Radio and WRKF Classical as we observe the Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, and the new year.
Saturday, December 21
The Nutcracker
Sunday, December 21 at 4pm on WRKF Classical
Mindy Ratner brings you The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a composition that has become among the most closely associated with the Christmas holiday. The two-act classical ballet set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination.
Sunday, December 22
Kelly Corrigan Wonders: On Gifting and Regifting with Anna Quindlen
Sunday, December 22 at 8pm
For anyone with gift anxiety, for anyone who feels like you can’t win for losing, this is the conversation for you. Full of reminders and insights as we gear up for the season, Anna and Kelly ask all the right questions. (also listen Christmas Eve at 12 noon)
Tuesday, December 24: Christmas Eve
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
Tuesday, December 24 at 9am
Share in a live, world-wide Christmas Eve broadcast of a service of Biblical readings, carols, and related seasonal Classical music. 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. (also listen Christmas Eve at 10pm)
A Chanticleer Christmas
Tuesday, December 24 at 11am
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.
Kelly Corrigan Wonders: On Gifting and Regifting with Anna Quindlen
Tuesday, December 24 at 12noon
For anyone with gift anxiety, for anyone who feels like you can’t win for losing, this is the conversation for you. Full of reminders and insights as we gear up for the season, Anna and Kelly ask all the right questions.
No Small Endeavor: Can Curiosity Save Your Holidays?
Tuesday, December 24 at 1pm
Malcolm Gladwell and former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith explore how to bridge divides and find common ground with family and friends this season. Malcolm Gladwell reveals why humility is the key to unlocking understanding. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith shares powerful poems from the Civil War era that illuminate the cost of not seeing each other's humanity. Discover how to cultivate curiosity and compassion in a divided world.
The Civic Standard: Developed to Death
Tuesday, December 24 at 2pm
The Civic Standard chronicles the making of a unique theater production in Hardwick, Vermont. Developed to Death is a play about Hardwick and written by people in Hardwick. It stars the people of Hardwick and it is mostly just for the people of Hardwick — even those who have never been to a play. It is part murder mystery, part social science project, and its primary goal is to give people reasons to know and trust their neighbors across cultural divides. The mission of The Civic is to give neighbors excuses to get together, even if someone had to die before the salad course.
The Night Before Christmas
Tuesday, December 24, hourly, starting at 7pm on WRKF Classical
Hear a telling of The Night Before Christmas, complete with classical music and sound effects, narrated by Lynne Warfel, unfolding in hourly increments at 7pm, 8pm, and 9pm on Christmas Eve night.
Three Tales of Christmas with Cantus
Tuesday, December 24 at 7pm
The Cantus Vocal Ensemble weaves together three holiday stories with time-honored carols and new classics. Blending narration and song, the program features Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Christine Lê’s The Hawai’i Snowman, alongside Mark Twain’s “A Letter from Santa Claus,” offering an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and joy of the holiday season.
The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice
Tuesday, December 24 at 8pm
Musical celebration of the Winter holidays – Advent, Chanukah, the Solstice, Las Posadas, Christmas, New Year’s, and Twelfth Night/Epiphany -- featuring traditional carols, wassails, pub songs, hymns, spirituals, children’s singing games, and folk dance-tunes excerpted from live Christmas and Midwinter Revels stage productions presented around the country. (also listen Christmas Day at 9am)
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
Tuesday, December 24 at 10pm
An encore airing taped live earlier today, of the traditional choral event taking place the evening of Christmas Eve in Cambridge, England. (also listen Christmas Eve at 9am)
Wednesday, December 25: Christmas Day
First evening of Hanukkah
The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice
Wednesday, December 25 at 9am
Musical celebration of the Winter holidays – Advent, Chanukah, the Solstice, Las Posadas, Christmas, New Year’s, and Twelfth Night/Epiphany -- featuring traditional carols, wassails, pub songs, hymns, spirituals, children’s singing games, and folk dance-tunes excerpted from live Christmas and Midwinter Revels stage productions presented around the country. (also listen Christmas Eve at 8pm)
All Is Bright: Contemplative Music for Christmas
Wednesday, December 25 at 11am
An hour of gorgeous, contemplative choral music that tells the traditional Christmas story with songs about angels, the star and the manger scene. Featured artists include Cantus, Chanticleer, Cambridge Singers, Bryn Terfel, Emma Kirkby, Jessye Norman, and a variety of choirs.
Selected Shorts: Holiday Hitches
Wednesday, December 25 at 12noon
We love the holidays, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. We offer three tales about uncommon roads travelled by celebrants. Humorist Andy Borowitz tells of a young man embracing tradition—but with an ulterior motive. Michael Tucker reads “The First Hanukkah.” Our second work may or may not answer the question “Where Do Good Trees Go When They Die?” but it certainly tells us a lot about a mother/daughter relationship. Pascale Armand’s reads this Laurie Notaro work. And in Stuart McLean’s “Christmas Presents,” a family that had a tepid response to gift giving decides to go all out, with unpredictable results. Spoiler alert: the holiday season is not the best time to learn new skills, and reader Jill Eikenberry will tell you why. (also listen Christmas Day at 8pm)
To the Best of Our Knowledge: Tasting the Past
Wednesday, December 25 at 1pm
A celebration of food and nostalgia as you prepare the festival meal. Maybe it's your grandmother's molasses cookies, the garlicky tomato sauce your spouse cooked when you were first dating, or the chicken noodle soup you made every week when your kids were little. The sights, smells and tastes of certain foods can instantly remind us of a person or transport us back to a particular time in our lives. What food reminds you of a certain time– or maybe a particular person –in your life? This hour, we’ll meet kitchen ghosts from Kentucky, hear how religion and food are intertwined, and talk about how flavor evokes emotion– from grief to joy. (also listen Sunday, December 29 at 8pm)
Embodied: Is Food The Key To Cultural Belonging?
Wednesday, December 25 at 2pm
Food is a popular and accessible pathway to finding cultural connection, especially when other routes — like religion, language or a robust familial network — are less available. Anita felt particularly connected to her Indian heritage growing up eating her mom’s cooking … but now as an adult, she makes very few of those recipes on her own. Now, she’s looking for solid ways to connect back to her cultural identity, and she’s heading into the kitchen.
Anita first talks with writer and foodie Raj Tawney for insight. Raj’s memoir, “Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience,” details his experiences with food and his Indian, Puerto Rican and Italian heritage. Anita and Raj discuss the foods that made Raj who he is, and how his hours in the kitchen with his mom and grandma grounded his search for belonging.
Then, Anita picks up the phone and calls the primary chef in the Rao family: her mom, Sheila. They talk about why Anita’s mom didn’t emphasize teaching them to cook when they were younger, and what Anita can do to tap into her mom’s love of cooking — and her recipe box. (also listen Christmas Day at 9pm)
BBC Newshour Christmas Quiz
Wednesday, December 25 at 6pm
They can ask the tough questions, but do they know the answers? On Christmas Day, BBC Newshour will put its hosts to the test in best of Christmas traditions: the Newshour Christmas Quiz. James Coomarasamy will find out what his colleagues James Menendez, Tim Franks, Rebecca Kesby, and Celia Hatton can remember about the events of the year. Featuring old favourite rounds of Mystery Guest and Grandpa Julian’s Bedtime story (as told by BBC World Service veteran presenter, Julian Marshall). Big brains or blank faces: you decide. (also listen Sunday, December 29 at 9pm)
Candles Burning Brightly
Wednesday, December 25 at 7pm
A delightful hour for everyone to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights! Lots of music from Jewish communities around the world, plus a hilarious lesson on how to prepare a classic Chanukah dish, and a timeless and touching holiday story that brings light into every home.'
Selected Shorts: Holiday Hitches
Wednesday, December 25 at 8pm
Holiday stories of things that don't go quite as planned and roads uncommonly travelled. (also listen Christmas Day at noon)
Embodied: Is Food The Key To Cultural Belonging?
Wednesday, December 25 at 9pm
Examining food as a pathway to cultural connection. (also listen Christmas Day at 2pm)
Sunday, December 29
To the Best of Our Knowledge: Tasting the Past
Sunday, December 29 at 8pm
A celebration of food and nostalgia as you prepare the festival meal. Maybe it's your grandmother's molasses cookies, the garlicky tomato sauce your spouse cooked when you were first dating, or the chicken noodle soup you made every week when your kids were little. The sights, smells and tastes of certain foods can instantly remind us of a person or transport us back to a particular time in our lives. What food reminds you of a certain time– or maybe a particular person –in your life? This hour, we’ll meet kitchen ghosts from Kentucky, hear how religion and food are intertwined, and talk about how flavor evokes emotion– from grief to joy. (also listen Christmas Day at 1pm)
New Year's Eve
2024 Remembered
Tuesday, December 31 at 10pm
A musical special honoring the life, music, and legacy of artists we lost this year. This two-hour musical tribute is a celebration of all sounds - from indie to influential - and the perfect way for music lovers to unite in paying homage to the artists who have shaped music history.
