KMFA Classical 89.5, Austin's Home for the Holidays is presented by Louis Shanks Furniture with additional support by I Live Here I Give Here, Loewy Law Firm, Jackson Walker, Estes Audiology, Dr. Simone Scumpia of Austin Thyroid and Endocrinology, Terry McDaniel & Company  Investment Counsel, and Paul Leche. 

^{*Please note that this list will continue to be updated and is subject to change. To receive up-to-date playlists in your inbox each morning, subscribe to our Daily Playlist at kmfa.org/signup or check back here for the latest information.}

6:00 p.m. | Chanticleer Christmas

This one-hour program of holiday favorites, new and old, will be presented live in concert by Chanticleer, the superb 12-man ensemble known as "an orchestra of voices." Chanticleer is one of the premiere vocal ensembles in the nation. The ensemble has won two Grammys and is a member of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. 

Noon | Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker (complete)

6:00 p.m. | A Mexican Christmas

The Newberry Consort and Ensemble Ad-Hoc present A Mexican Christmas, an album of 17th century traditional music for worship and celebration. The collection features pieces commonly heard in both liturgical service and in the streets, and evoke the solemnity and fanfare heard in Mexico City’s convents and plazas, with jubilant vocals and lively strings, guitars, and percussion. Organ, harp, bassoon, and a variety of Mexican traditional instruments bring this exuberant and diverse music to life. A Mexican Christmas is hosted by soprano Ellen Hargis, Director Emerita of The Newberry Consort, and soprano Francy Acosta, Co-Director of EnsAmble Ad-Hoc. The special is produced by Oliver Camacho and Rebecca Nystedt.

6:00 p.m. | The Ballad of the Brown King

Dr. Louise Toppin, a noted performer and scholar who specializes in the concert repertoire of African American composers, presents the world premiere recording of Margaret Bonds’s The Ballad of the Brown King. With a libretto by Langston Hughes, this Christmas cantata which focuses on Balthazar, the dark-skinned king who journeyed to Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus Christ, is beautifully interpreted by New York City-based The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra, soloists soprano Laquita Mitchell, mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford and tenor Noah Stewart, led by Malcolm J. Merriweather.

6:00 p.m. | Winter Holidays Around the World with Bill McGlaughlin

Winter holidays are celebrated around the world, and their music is wonderful to hear, regardless of which tradition you observe. Bill’s spirited selection starts in the 12th century with Nova Stella, medieval Italian Christmas music from Saint Francis of Assisi’s staging of the nativity; jazz pianist Dave Brubeck’s classical composition La Fiesta de la Posada, evoking a Mexican Christmas celebration; and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols. We will enjoy this time of year in Paris with music from Debussy, and then travel to Polynesia for a traditional hymn, Anau Oia Ea. And then ending with an excerpt from Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors from the original television production. Turn on your radio, pour a cup of tea, cozy up to a warm fire, and enjoy the music!

6:00 p.m. | A Chanukah Celebration

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. Familiar tunes include “I Have a Little Dreidel” (both in its original Yiddish form and in a neo-funk Hebrew/English setting), a swing version of “S’vivon” by Steve Barnett, and a lively setting of the traditional melody for “Al-Hanissim” (“For the Miracles”) by Elliot Levine. Heartfelt original compositions by American and British composers provide added depth of expression to celebrating the holiday. Such works include “Lo Yisa Goy,” a plea for peace by Stacy Garrop; Bob Applebaum’s stirring new version of “Haneirot Halalu”; and movements from the majestic “Hallel Suite” by London-based Daniel Tunkel. All selections are performed by Chicago a cappella, the virtuoso vocal ensemble now in its 23rd season. Jonathan Miller provides liturgical and cultural background as part of this unique look inside old and newer choral Chanukah traditions.

F. Melius Christiansen started the Christmas Festival in 1911 at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota as a simple service in word and song for students, faculty, friends and family. In the 109 years since, it has grown to include more than 500 student musicians who share their gifts with more than 12,000 audience members at the four live concerts – tickets for which always sell out months in advance. You’ll hear sacred choral and instrumental music from many traditions: beloved hymns, classical masterworks, folk songs from around the world, and African-American spirituals.

Sara Schneider, producer and host of Early Music Now, presents Gaudete! Early Music for the Christmas Season, with joyful and contemplative sounds of the season. In this 1-hour holiday special, we’ll hear Byzantine chant by Kassiani, and selections from Missa Puer natus est nobis by Thomas Tallis, plus hymns and motets from Spain, Germany, and France. Our performers include The Cardinall’s Musick, Theatre of Voices, Cappella Romana, and Oltremontano. 

9:00 p.m. | From the Butler School Holiday Concert 

6:00 p.m. | Christmas with The King's Singers 

It’s an a cappella Christmas from England with the King’s Singers, one of the world’s most celebrated vocal ensembles. In an exclusive New York appearance recorded at The Greene Space, this male sextet — consummate entertainers with a delightfully British wit — perform timeless carols, Christmas classics and new arrangements in their impeccable vocal blend. WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon hosts.

KMFA wishes you and yours a joyous holiday season as we offer this Brass and Choral Holiday Concert for your listening pleasure. Hosted by Candice Agree, tune in to the great works of composers like Samuel Scheidt, Giovanni Gabrieli, William Billings, Claudio Monteverdi, and many more.

9:00 p.m. | Choral Classics Holiday Edition

6:00 p.m. | All is Bright 

All Is Bright is an hour of contemplative music related to the Christmas season and its symbolism. This program uses sacred choral music grouped in a way to tell the traditional Christmas story by way of songs about angels, the star, and the manger scene. Featured artists include Cambridge Singers, Cantus, and Chanticleer.

THE CHRISTMAS REVELS: IN CELEBRATION OF THE WINTER SOLSTICE 2022” is a brand-new, 119-minute or 59-minute musical celebration of the Winter holidays -- Christmas, the Solstice, Jonkonnu, New Year’s and Twelfth Night/Epiphany -- featuring traditional carols, wassails, hymns, spirituals, children’s game-songs, and folk dance-tunes excerpted from live Christmas Revels stage productions presented around the country.

9:00 p.m. | Christmas Classical Austin

6:00 p.m. | Bach's Christmas Oratorio with host Sara Schneider 

9:00 p.m. | Classical Guitar Alive: Holiday Edition

7:00 p.m. | Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker with host Jeffrey Blair

9:00 p.m. | Center Stage from Wolf Trap: Holiday Special

7:00 a.m. | Welcome Home

There’s no better way to welcome Christmas than Welcome Christmas!, the VocalEssence holiday concert conducted by Philip Brunelle. It’s an hour of joyful, classic holiday music from VocalEssence, one of the world’s premiere choral groups, singing traditional carols and new discoveries.

This holiday program features over two centuries of festive Christmas dances and songs from the great cathedrals of Puebla and Mexico City. With rich instrumental and percussive accompaniment, solos and choruses burst forth in this program that's a far cry from the same old Christmas show. Plus a couple of surprises for the season in this one hour production.  The music is all rhythmic and tuneful and totally appealing.

9:00 a.m. | A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols presents 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.

11:00 a.m. | Wind & Rhythm: Christmas Edition

12:00 p.m. | Met Holiday Broadcast of Mozart's The Magic Flute

5:00 p.m. | Concierto: Christmas Edition

7:00 p.m. | NYPO Holiday Concert

9:00 p.m. | Feminine Fusion: Holiday Edition

10:00 p.m. | A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (Re-broadcast)

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols presents 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.

6:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. | Christmas with your favorite KMFA hosts!

11:00 a.m. | Classical Austin: Christmas Edition

12:00 p.m. | Classical Guitar Alive: Holiday Edition (Re-Broadcast)

F. Melius Christiansen started the Christmas Festival in 1911 at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota as a simple service in word and song for students, faculty, friends and family. In the 109 years since, it has grown to include more than 500 student musicians who share their gifts with more than 12,000 audience members at the four live concerts – tickets for which always sell out months in advance. You’ll hear sacred choral and instrumental music from many traditions: beloved hymns, classical masterworks, folk songs from around the world, and African American spirituals.

Sara Schneider hosts ‘An Early Christmas’ with Texas Early Music Project, with selections from their 2020 and 2021 Christmas concerts. We’ll hear joyful and contemplative carols and dances spanning centuries, including music from England, Scotland, France, and Holland. Daniel Johnson created many of the original arrangements heard in this concert, and he also directs the singers and instrumentalists of TEMP.

3:00 p.m. | All is Bright 

All Is Bright is an hour of contemplative music related to the Christmas season and its symbolism. This program uses sacred choral music grouped in a way to tell the traditional Christmas story by way of songs about angels, the star, and the manger scene. Featured artists include Cambridge Singers, Cantus, and Chanticleer.

4:00 p.m. | Christmas Music with host Guillermo Delgado

5:00 p.m. | Pianoforte Christmas

6:00 p.m. | Winter Holidays Around the World with Bill McGlaughlin

Winter holidays are celebrated around the world, and their music is wonderful to hear, regardless of which tradition you observe. Bill’s spirited selection starts in the 12th century with Nova Stella, medieval Italian Christmas music from Saint Francis of Assisi’s staging of the nativity; jazz pianist Dave Brubeck’s classical composition La Fiesta de la Posada, evoking a Mexican Christmas celebration; and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols. We will enjoy this time of year in Paris with music from Debussy, and then travel to Polynesia for a traditional hymn, Anau Oia Ea. And then ending with an excerpt from Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors from the original television production. Turn on your radio, pour a cup of tea, cozy up to a warm fire, and enjoy the music!

7:00 p.m. | The Pittsburgh Symphony performs Handel's Messiah

9:00 p.m.   Pipeworks Christmas

10:00 p.m. | A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (Re-broadcast)

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols presents 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.

6:00 p.m. | Itzhak Perlman's Chanukah Radio Party 

Itzhak Perlman invites you to his Chanukah Radio Party. Join the superstar violinist as he tells the story of the Jewish festival of lights and shares his favorite recordings for the holiday – some serious, some silly. This engaging one-hour special includes numbers from Itzhak Perlman’s radio-addicted childhood in Israel; evocative songs in Yiddish and Ladino; classical music that revolves around the Maccabee heroes of the story; and Chanukah gems by American folk singers. The master storyteller also regales you with jokes and memories, plus tales of three classic Chanukah symbols: the menorah, the latke, and, of course, the dreidel. A good time for the whole family, at Itzhak Perlman’s Chanukah Radio Party!

^{*Please note that this list will continue to be updatedand is subject to change. To receive up-to-date playlists in your inbox each morning, subscribe to our Daily Playlist at kmfa.org/signup or check back here for the latest information.}

KMFA Classical 89.5, Austin's Home for the Holiday Sponsors

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Special thanks to longtime supporter Paul Leche!