Featured News
Ring in the Holiday Season with Classic FM!
by
December 10, 2025
Join WCNY Classic FM this holiday season for music that brings light and cheer!
Check out our 2025 holiday lineup:
Hanukkah:
Celebrate Hanukkah with Classic FM! Host Adam Fine brings you “Hanukkah Highlights,” marking the eight days with a new vignette each day, starting at 1 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 15.
Christmas Eve:
10 a.m.: A Festival of 9 Lessons and Carols Live from Kings College – Cambridge
Pipedreams host Michael Barone presents this 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.
12 p.m.: Winter Holidays Around the World with Bill McGlaughlin
Bill’s spirited selection begins in the 12th century with Nova Stella, medieval Italian Christmas music from Saint Francis of Assisi’s nativity staging. It continues with 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’ll then enjoy the season in Paris with music by Debussy before traveling to Polynesia for the traditional hymn, Anau Oia Ea. The program concludes with an excerpt from Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, performed as part of the original television production.
1 p.m.: In Winter’s Glow
New this year, “In Winter’s Glow” is a winter solstice program, with modern classical sounds for the longest night of the year, chosen especially to compliment the chilly, starry nights of the season.
2 p.m.: Gaudete! Early Music for the Christmas Season
Sara Schneider, producer and host of Early Music Now, shares 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.
3 p.m.: Chanticleer at Christmas
Recorded in the studios of WQXR in New York, Jeff Spurgeon hosts a program featuring Chanticleer, the professional men’s ensemble that has been one of the shining stars of the choral world for 45 years. You’ll hear works ranging from the English Renaissance to today, in classic, original form and in settings by members of Chanticleer past and present, beginning with two familiar Christmas carols, each arranged by a member of Chanticleer singing with the group.
4 p.m.: Christmas at 33 & 1/3 with Chris Cresswell
WCNY’s own Chris Cresswell once again brings you Christmas favorites from his LP collection
5 p.m.: The Christmas Revels: A Celebration of the Winter Solstice
With music to mark Advent, the Solstice, Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day, New Year’s and Twelfth Night/Epiphany, the program features traditional carols, wassails, pub songs, hymns, spirituals, children’s singing games, and folk dance-tunes excerpted from live Christmas and Midwinter Revels stage productions presented around the country.
Christmas Day:
6 a.m.-Noon: Christmas Morning Live with Diane Jones
Gather friends and family from far and wide to share their Christmas morning live with music from host Diane Jones. It’s an annual tradition!
12 p.m.: Welcome Christmas with VocalEssence
Tune in at noon for this perennial Christmas favorite from VocalEssence, one of the world’s premiere choral groups. Enjoy an hour of traditional carols and new discoveries.
1 p.m.: St. Olaf’s Christmas Festival
A service in song and word 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. 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.
3 p.m.: Horns and Harmonies from Hendricks Chapel
In case you missed it, be sure to join host Bruce Paulsen as he hosts the annual concert from Syracuse University, Horns and Harmonies. Performed in historic Hendricks Chapel, enjoy performances from the Syracuse University Brass Ensemble, the Spirit of Syracuse Chorus, and friends.
5 p.m.: A Rochester Festival of Lessons and Carols
It’s a Christmas celebration close to home with “A Rochester Festival of Lessons and Carols!” The program was recorded at Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York under the direction of organist/choirmaster James Kealey, winner of the AGO 2022 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance and one of The Diapason’s 2021 “20 under 30” young artists. The program includes the traditional readings that were selected by King’s College Dean Eric Milner White in 1918, and music by Boris Ord, C V Stanford, Sir John Rutter, and Morten Lauridsen.
6 p.m.: Christmas with Madrigalia
Let’s stay in Rochester a bit longer, as the Rochester chamber choir Madrigalia and Artistic Director Cary Ratcliff present a concert of traditional carols, anthems, and new arrangements to celebrate the winter solstice, Chanukah and Christmas around the world. Recorded live at Asbury United Methodist Church in Rochester, NY, this concert includes “The Fiddle Witch” Alyssa Rodriguez who accompanies some of the Scandanavian selections on her Swedish instrument, the Nyckleharpa, along with clarinetist Peggy Quackenbush and pianist Amanda von Rathonyi. WXXI Classical’s Brenda Tremblay is your host and producer.
New Year’s Day:
The New Year’s Day tradition continues on Classic FM as WCNY shares the live broadcast from Vienna! The 2026 Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert airs Jan. 1, 2026, marking the first time the orchestra performs under the baton of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein.
WCNY-91.3 Syracuse | WUNY-89.5 Utica/Rome | WJNY-90.9 Watertown
Learn more about Classic FM at wcny.org/radio.
