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WSCL 89.5 Christmas Eve Specials 2015

MPR Photo / Michael Barone)

9AM- Welcome Christmas

A perennial broadcast favorite featuring the Minneapolis-based ensemble, VocalEssence. Recognized internationally as one of America's premier choral arts organizations, VocalEssence is led by the visionary Philip Brunelle. This year, we'll hear the world premiere of a new work by Alan Bullard.

10AM- A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

Hosted by Michael Barone, this is a live service of spoken-word and music (choral and organ) broadcast from the chapel of King's College in Cambridge, England. The 30-voice King's College Choir performs the legendary Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service of Biblical readings and music.

noon Christmastime in New York: The Choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine

The Choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine performs at the Medieval Sculpture Hall at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a program that spans hundreds of years and describes the story of the nativity. The program includes settings of the "O Magnum Mysterium" text by T. L. da Victoria, Morton Lauridsen, and Francis Poulenc; works by Byrd, Biebl, and Hassler; as well as music by Eric Whitacre, Francis Poulenc, William Byrd and Morten Lauridsen.

1PM- The St. Olaf Christmas Festival

The St. Olaf Christmas Festival is a concert performance that has become one of the nation's most cherished holiday celebrations.

Tickets to the event - which takes place at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN - are always gone months in advance.

Started in 1912 by F. Melius Christiansen, founder of the St. Olaf College Music Department, 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.

This year's festival features the St. Olaf Choir, the St. Olaf Orchestra, the St. Olaf Cantorei, the St. Olaf Chapel Choir, the Manitou Singers, and the Viking Chorus, performing both as individual groups and as a massed ensemble.

3PM- The Canadian Brass: Christmastime is Here

Hosted by WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon, this program features arrangements of music by Vince Guaraldi and Luther Henderson as well as traditional favorites from "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Frosty the Snowman" and more – timeless classics infused with jazz and lush harmonies.

6PM- A Rochester Festival of Lessons and Carols 2015

Chris Ranck is Delmarva Public Media's Executive Producer, Program Director and Automation Engineer.