Home for the holidays, Celebration of "Maestro", and more on WETA Classical this week

We are full of holiday spirit this week. Our playlist is full of holiday music by the composers and performers you love. We also have a full line-up of special programs on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. You can view the special schedule here.

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We are celebrating the much-awaited Netflix release of the Bernstein biopic Maestro on December 20! Tune in throughout the day for music composed or conducted by the maestro and sneak peeks of the soundtrack (including a selection of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 conducted by Bradley Cooper). At 8PM, James Jacobs hosts a special presentation of the live performance recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 conducted by Leonard Bernstein, which inspired a pivotal performance scene in the film (no spoilers!).

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On this Christmas Eve, gather around for a special presentation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol on Choral Showcase with music based on traditional carols and folk-songs.

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Tannhäuser, Wagner’s ravishing opera of love, lust, and redemption in a story of the knight's struggle between the forces of earthly pleasure and sacred love.  A live broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera with Austrian tenor Andreas Schager in the title role, along with Elza van den Heever and Christian Gerhaher, conducted by Donald Runnicles.

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​In December we continue our celebration of Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music at The Barns concert series. On the 18th we hear pianists Wu Han (Artistic Advisor for Chamber Music at The Barns), Anna Geniushene, and Dmytro Choni (both were awarded medals at the 2022 Van Cliburn competition). Together they celebrate Sergei Rachmaninoff at 150 with his Suites Nos. 1 and 2 for Two Pianos, the first of which was dedicated to Tchaikovsky who died just weeks before he could attend the premiere in 1893. They also perform the distinctly post-romantic Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 30 by Alexander Scriabin, and they bring a little holiday magic too with a two-piano Suite arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker. Join me for this exciting program and every Monday night at 9pm on WETA Classical’s Front Row Washington! 

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Greet each day with holiday cheer this week on Classical Sunrise! 

• Monday 7:22AM Handel -  Messiah: Chorus. "Hallelujah!"
• Tuesday 7:21AM Traditional: The Twelve Days of Christmas
• Wednesday 7:22AM Tchaikovsky -  Nutcracker: Russian Dance
• Thursday 7:23AM Bach - Christmas Oratorio, Part 3: Chorus. "Herrscher des Himmels, erhöre
  das Lallen"
• Friday 7:24AM James Lord Pierpont: Jingle Bells

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