All season long, WQXR presents special programming to make the holidays merry and bright!
WQXR's 2022 Holiday Channels
🎄 WQXR Holiday Channel | Nov. 28 - Jan. 6
Let WQXR get you into the holiday spirit with an all-classical holiday channel that streams seasonal favorites and heartwarming carols from classical recordings and new releases.
🎄 New Standards Holiday Channel | Nov. 28 - Jan. 6
New Standards brings holiday cheer with a festive channel that streams continuous swinging holiday classics, performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Wynton Marsalis and many more!
🎄 WQXR Classical Countdown | Dec. 27 - 31
Every year WQXR asks listeners, "What is your favorite piece of classical music?" Based on your responses, we'll close out 2022 by counting down the most-requested pieces. Submit your five favorite classical pieces here! The submission form closes December 12 at 12pm ET.
WQXR's 2022 Holiday Programming Guide
Mark your calendars for what's playing on air.
Dec. 9 at 7 pm: Handel's Messiah Performed from Trinity Wall Street (Live)
WQXR takes you to Trinity Church for Handel’s Messiah. Trinity Wall Street and Handel's Messiah have a long tradition in New York City, dating back to 1770 when the historic church presented one of the first North American performances of the oratorio. Elliott Forrest hosts this live broadcast from Trinity Wall Street.
Dec. 10 at 8 pm: The New York Philharmonic This Week
A selection of winter-themed highlights from the New York Philharmonic’s storied discography. You’ll hear sleigh bells from Mozart, Mahler, and Leroy Anderson, the beloved Children’s Prayer from Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and selections from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
Dec. 12 at 7 pm: WQXR Christmas Concert in The Greene Space (Live in The Greene Space and on WQXR)
WQXR returns to the annual Christmas concert in the Greene Space! Celebrate the holiday season with music from The New York Pops Trio, soprano Laquita Mitchell, flutist Jennifer Grim, The Clarion Choir, and violinist Lara St. John. Buy tickets to the concert here.
Dec. 15 at 9 pm: Chanukah Memories and Melodies
Join for an hour of reminiscences by artists, interspersed with music tied to their holiday memories. Guests include Broadway actress Tovah Feldshuh; cellist Alisa Weilerstein; Sephardic music expert and flutist Daphna Mor, musician and Yiddish musicologist Henry Sapoznik, poet, musician and author Aaron Dworkin, and Eric Jacobsen, artistic director of The Knights orchestra. Elliott Forrest hosts.
Dec. 17 at 8 pm: The New York Philharmonic This Week
The New York Philharmonic’s annual presentation of Handel’s Messiah is one of its most loved traditions. In this performance from 2004, then Music Director Alan Gilbert is joined by soprano Celena Shafer, mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby, tenor Kurt Streit, bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu, and the Westminster Symphonic Choir.
Dec. 18 at 5 pm: Itzhak Perlman’s 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 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.
Dec. 19 at 9 pm: The New Yorker’s Christmas with Nimet Habachy
One of the great WQXR traditions: Nimet Habachy’s reflections on Christmas in New York.
Dec. 19 at 10 pm: Chanukah Memories and Melodies (Encore)
Dec. 20 at 9 pm: A Spiritual Celebration with Terrance McKnight
Terrance McKnight explores the beauty and variety of traditional spirituals that celebrate the Christmas story.
Dec. 21 at 9 pm: Young Artists Showcase
Host Bob Sherman welcomes Oratorio Society of New York’s Music Director Kent Tritle and rising tenors Brian Giebler and Joshua Blue, for arias from Handel’s Messiah and other holiday treats on the Young Artists Showcase.
Dec. 21 at 10 pm: Reflections from the Keyboard: The Piano in Winter
In this edition of Reflections from the Keyboard, host David Dubal celebrates piano music depicting the holiday season and the winter months, with selections by Fanny Mendelssohn, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Debussy and many more.
Dec. 22 at 9 pm: An Old School Christmas
Hear an hour of beautiful music for the Christmas season from the Baroque, Renaissance, and Medieval eras, with Jeff Spurgeon.
Dec. 23 at 9 pm: WQXR Christmas Concert in The Greene Space (Encore)
Dec. 24 at 10 am: A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (Live)
Hosted by Michael Barone, this is a live broadcast from the chapel of King’s College in Cambridge, England where the 30-voice King’s College Choir performs the legendary Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service of Biblical readings and music.
Dec. 24 at 1 pm: Mozart’s The Magic Flute
An abridged family-friendly version, sung in English, starring sopranos Joélle Harvey and Aleksandra Olczyk, tenor Ben Bliss and baritone Joshua Hopkins.
Dec. 24 at 3:30 pm: Bach's Christmas Oratorio
Hear the cantatas Bach wrote for the first three days of Christmas in Leipzig, 1734. René Jacobs conducts the Academy for Ancient Music, Berlin and the RIAS Chamber Chorus
Dec. 24 from 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm: A Very Classical Christmas Eve
A joyful afternoon and evening of classical Christmas music!
Dec. 24 at 9 pm: A Spiritual Celebration with Terrance McKnight (Encore)
Dec. 24 at 10 pm: The New Yorker’s Christmas with Nimet Habachy (Encore)
Dec. 24 at 11 pm: Young Artists Showcase (Encore)
Dec. 25 from 8:00 am – 9:00 pm: A Very Classical Christmas
If you’ve enjoyed our Holiday Channel this month, you’ll love spending Christmas with us!! Listen to the perfect Classical Christmas music mix throughout the day.
Dec. 25 at 1:00 pm The Nutcracker
You often hear music from the Nutcracker, but when was the last time you heard the entire thing? Andre Previn conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in a sparkling performance of Tchaikovsky’s complete Nutcracker ballet.
Dec. 25 at 9 pm: An Old School Christmas (Encore)
Dec. 25 at 10 pm: Reflections from the Keyboard: The Piano in Winter (Encore)
Dec. 26 all day: Best of 2022
Hear our favorite classical releases from 2022.
WQXR Classical Countdown | Dec. 27 - 31
Every year WQXR asks its listeners, “What is your favorite piece of classical music?” Based on your responses, we close out 2022 by counting down the most-requested pieces. Tune in for five days of competitive classical countdown action!
Jan. 1 at 11 am: New Year's Day Live from Vienna (Live)
Waltz (and polka) into the New Year with Franz Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic, in a live broadcast from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein.
Check out some of our favorite holiday content from past WQXR events:
WQXR Holiday YouTube Playlist
WQXR Holiday Concert (2019)
Chanukah Celebration Across the Globe (2013)