As we move through this month of many celebrations, WHRO FM is your soundtrack for bright and joyful music of the season.

On December 16, we’ll celebrate Beethoven’s birthday, and on December 17, we’ll begin airing our holiday specials at noon and 9 p.m. Highlights will include new 2019 editions of favorites like Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, Welcome Christmas! with VocalEssence, and the St. Olaf Christmas Festival. New offerings this year include Hygge Holiday: Cozy Classics, a mix of wintry and nostalgic classical pieces to accompany your cozy wintertime activities, and a Brass and Choral Holiday Concert from the acclaimed ensemble Music of the Baroque, featuring works by composers like Samuel Scheidt, Giovanni Gabrieli, William Billings, Claudio Monteverdi, and many more. And make sure to tune in on Wednesday, December 18 for a very Virginian holiday special on A Local Touch with Raymond Jones.

The weekend of December 21–22 brings a musical celebration of the winter solstice, and also holiday editions of your favorite weekend programs like Harmonia, With Heart and Voice, From the Parlor and Pipedreams. On Christmas Eve we’ll once again partake in the beloved Christmas tradition, A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, an extraordinary and memorable live service of word and music from the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, England. Tune in at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, December 24 to share in this live, worldwide broadcast of a service of Biblical readings, carols, and related seasonal music.

For Christmas Day, WHRO FM will offer joyous and beautiful music throughout the day, including encore presentations of many of the previous week’s specials along with holiday music from our library. Then we’ll wrap up our celebrations on January 1, 2020, with the live broadcast of New Year’s Day from Vienna, the Vienna Philharmonic’s ever popular annual New Year’s Day concert from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein.

Check schedule.whro.org for details, times and the most up-to-date program information. You can also listen online.