2026 WEKU Holiday Programming
Thu Nov. 26 12-2p
Turkey Confidential
On the Splendid Table’s annual Thanksgiving show, Francis Lam takes calls and comes to the rescue of Thanksgiving cooks, kitchen helpers, and inner guests during the biggest cooking day of the year.
Sun Dec. 13 at 8p
The Lexington Philharmonic – Cathedral Christmas 2025
LexPhil and the Lexington Singers return to the Cathedral of Christ the King for this Lexington holiday tradition in a program of sacred orchestral and choral works.
Mon Dec. 14 at 8p
Hanukkah Lights 2026
For this year’s Hanukkah Lights, actor Josh Stamberg, the son of our beloved Susan Stamberg, will share some of the storytelling with Hanukkah Lights host Murray Horwitz. Together, they present The Devil’s Trick by Isaac Bashevis Singer and a work new to the program: The Little Hanukkah Lamp by I.L. Peretz.
Fri Dec. 25 at 9a
Tinsel Tales: NPR Christmas Favorites
This program features stories from the NPR archives that touch on the meaning of Christmas. David Sedaris, Bailey White, John Henry Faulk -- these and other NPR voices, past and present, tell stories of the season. Hosted by Lynn Neary.
Fri Dec. 25 at 10a
Tinsel Tales 2: More NPR Christmas Favorites
NPR fills millions of homes each holiday with humor, warmth, and a host of festive voices. Continuing with the tradition of the first Tinsel Tales program, this is another collection of the best and most requested holiday stories. Joy, hope, and childhood memories overflow as NPR voices, past and present, tell stories of the season. Hosted by Lynn Neary.
Fri Dec. 25 at 11a
Tinsel Tales 3: Even More NPR Christmas Favorites
In keeping with a well-loved NPR holiday tradition, hear the third collection of extraordinary Christmas stories that will transport you to unexpected places. Audie Cornish, Ken Harbaugh, Nina Totenberg and other voices from NPR's past and present tell stories of the season in this hour-long special. Some tales are funny; some are touching; some are insightful or irreverent or nostalgic or surprising. You might recognize them from our broadcast archives — or you might fall in love with them for the first time. Hosted by Lynn Neary.
Fri Dec. 25 at 12p
Tinsel Tales 4: NPR Christmas Stories Told Through Song
NPR revisits interviews with musicians about their Christmas albums. Some, like Katie Melua and Sting, celebrate tradition and winter mystery in their Christmas songs. Others, like Kenny Rogers and Amy Grant, find spirituality and stability in holiday music. Jon Batiste and Anthony Hamilton bring new energy to old favorites on their Christmas albums. Hosted by Lynn Neary.
Fri Dec. 25 at 1p
Selected Shorts: ‘Tis the Season
This special Selected Shorts program showcases fiction about giving and receiving gifts at holiday time from three imaginative writers. In “Gifts of the Jewish Magi,” by Allegra Goodman, a frugal couple learns how to give to one another. It’s performed by Michael Cerveris and Dana Ivey. Next, Jon Glaser performs David Rakoff’s essay “Christmas Freud,” which recounts his experience as the resident therapist in the window of an upmarket department store. And in Jeannette Winterson’s “The Spirit of Christmas,” a couple confronts seasonal malaise with the help of a little magic. It’s read by Christina Pickles.
Fri Dec. 25 at 2p
Jonathan Winters’ A Christmas Carol
An updated version of a public radio tradition hosted by the late Susan Stamberg. Master comedian Jonathan Winters presents a distinctive reading of Dickens' holiday classic, with a special performing edition prepared by Dickens for his own presentations. Also featuring Mimi Kennedy.
Fri Dec. 25 at 8-11p
Jazz Classics Christmas Special
Roger Chesser has curated a special 3-hour presentation of classic jazz.
Thu Dec. 31 Midnight-4a
Toast of the Nation
An NPR tradition every New Year's Eve since the 1970s, Toast of the Nation is the perfect audio complement for the occasion. It's festive jazz you can party to, all night long.
Fri Jan 1 at 8-11p
Jazz Classics New Year’s Special
Roger Chesser has curated a special 3-hour presentation of classic jazz.
Thu Nov. 26 11a
Horn of Plenty – A Feast of Music For Thanksgiving
Paul Winter and friends celebrate the family of life and our planet home in this NPR Music seasonal special. Winter’s sax and Consort offer a song of gratitude for the land, the sea, and the air -- from Grand Canyon to Ukraine, with some works recorded on location. Audience favorites like "Sun Singer" and "Icarus" herald the grand musical embrace of "And the Earth Spins".
Thu Nov. 26 12p
Every Good Thing
On Thanksgiving, host Andrea Blain and classical music fans from all around the country take some time to give thanks and celebrate one of life's most meaningful gifts: music. It's "Every Good Thing" — an hour of stories and music to celebrate Thanksgiving
Thu Nov. 26 1p
Songs of Thanks
Through their signature narrative programming, Cantus will weave together stories and songs celebrating gratitude and community.
Thu Nov. 26 2p
River Carry Me Home: Thanksgiving with the American Sound
As we gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving, enjoy an hour of music that reaches the heart of what it means to wander through the world like a river carving its course, and what it means to come home. The special sets out with Copland’s quintessentially American The Promise of Living and enjoy stirring performances of the beloved spirituals Deep River and At the River. Some of America’s most celebrated rivers sing in Michael Daugherty’s Reflections on the Mississippi, Eric Ewazen’s Pittsburgh-inspired Three Rivers Trios and Peter Boyer’s Rolling River: Sketches on Shenandoah. And Goin’ Home by Dvorak with a text by William Arms Fisher, and the traditional song The Road Home brings us back to where we started, forever changed.
Tue Dec. 15 8p
Candles Burning Brightly
Mindy Ratner hosts a delightful hour for everyone to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights.
Wed Dec. 16 8p
The Lexington Philharmonic – Cathedral Christmas 2025
LexPhil and the Lexington Singers return to the Cathedral of Christ the King for this Lexington holiday tradition in a program of sacred orchestral and choral works.
Thu Dec. 24 4p
Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is world-wide Christmas Eve performance 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.
Fri Dec. 25 at 9a
Welcome Christmas 2026
Embrace the wonder of the season as VocalEssence continues its cherished tradition of welcoming Christmas in song. Hear sounds of the season from around the globe performed by four VocalEssence choirs, brass, guitar, percussion, and pipe organ. Feel the holiday spirit move through you as you lend your voice to joy-filled sing-alongs that will leave you feeling uplifted, festive, and ready to celebrate the season.
Fri Dec. 25 at 10a
A Chanticleer Christmas 2026
It wouldn’t be the holidays without Chanticleer at Memorial Church. San Francisco’s treasured men’s vocal ensemble creates a new Christmas program each year, activating the church’s gorgeous acoustics to create a feeling of community and serene beauty. Featuring a new co-commissioned work, Winter's Garland, a three-part choral song cycle from composer Joanna Marsh and poet Jane Draycott.
Fri Dec. 25 12-2p
St. Olaf Christmas Festival 2026
O MORNING STAR, O RADIANT LOVE: A two-hour service in song and word that has become one of the nation’s most cherished holiday celebrations. The festival includes hymns, carols, choral works, as well as orchestral selections celebrating the Nativity and featuring more than 500 student musicians in five choirs and the St. Olaf Orchestra.
Fri Dec. 25 3p
In Winter’s Glow
A winter solstice program, with modern classical sounds for the longest night of the year, chosen especially to complement the chilly, starry nights of the season.
Fri Dec. 25 4p
Hearth: Christmas with the Miro Quintet
Gather 'round the fire with Houston's award-winning Miro Quartet and Performance Today host Valerie Kahler for an hour of cozy memories and inventively re-imagined music for the season.
Fri Dec. 25 5p
A Paul Winter Solstice
This year, Solstice Live! warms up the longest night of the year with a taste of the tropics. This one-hour Winter Solstice special brings a starry array of Brazilian guests, including Ivan Lins, Renato Braz, and Luciana Souza, with the Paul Winter Consort at the annual solstice concerts in New York’s Cathedral of St John the Divine. John Schaefer hosts.
Fri Dec. 25 8p
A Choral Christmas with Stile Antico
Celebrate Christmas with the sound of soaring voices. Stile Antico, the award-winning choir from London, pays a visit to St. Paul's Church on Harvard Square for a concert of radiant sacred music for the Christmas season by the most acclaimed composers of the renaissance. Hear the group's luminous blend of voices sing the intricately woven music of Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.
Fri Dec. 25 9p
Christmas with Morehouse and Spelman Glee Clubs
One of the great holiday traditions in America, the choirs of Morehouse and Spelman Colleges -- two of the most prestigious historically black institutions in the nation -- get together to present a spine-tingling concert program. This encore presentation features the best works of the last several years. It's a joyous celebration of the schools' tradition of singing excellence, with their trademark mixture of spirituals and carols. Korva Coleman hosts.
Fri Jan. 1 2p
New Year's Day from Vienna 2026
The ever-popular annual New Year’s Day Concert will be performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Yannick Nezet-Seguim in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. Hosted by WBUR's Lisa Mullins
