Holiday Programming

Happy holidays from all of us at Iowa Public Radio!

We're sticking with tradition this season and bringing back some holiday favorites to soundtrack your festivities and cherished specials to enjoy once again. Find your local signal, tell your smart speakers to play Iowa Public Radio or download the IPR app to catch these holiday programs.

Let IPR Classical set the mood for the season and carry you into the new year with a collection of specials, performances and timely favorites. All programs air on IPR Classical stations across the state.

December 21, Noon
The Metropolitan Opera continues a beloved New York holiday tradition of playing Mozart’s enchanting musical fairy tale.

December 21, 4 p.m.

Steve Seel hosts this winter solstice program, bringing you modern classical sounds for the longest night of the year. Pieces are chosen to complement the chilly, starry nights of the season.

December 24, 8 a.m.
Lots of well-known Christmas music comes from the Celtic tradition. This program features ensembles and soloists like Apollo’s Fire and Bryn Terfel, as well as traditional instruments like harp, fiddle and mandolin.

December 24, 9 a.m.
An annual and beloved Christmas tradition, “A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols” is an extraordinary and memorable live service of word and music from the Chapel of King’s College in Cambridge, England.

December 24, 11 a.m.
December 25, 3 p.m.
This annual performance at Luther College in Decorah features hundreds of student musicians celebrating the season.

December 24, Noon

Brian Newhouse hosts this one-hour program of a cappella holiday favorites, new and old, presented live in concert by Chanticleer, the superb 12-man choral ensemble known as "an orchestra of voices."

December 24, 1 p.m.

December 25, 8 a.m.
Christmas with Wartburg has inspired audiences for more than 75 years. The program features the talents of about 350 students from the Wartburg Choir, Castle Singers, Wind Ensemble, and Kammerstreicher (chamber orchestra).

December 24, 2 p.m.

Menotti’s holiday classic returns. Performed by the Des Moines Metro Opera, this one-act opera depicts the three wise men stopping for shelter at the home of a poor mother and her crippled son, Amahl, as they journey to find the newborn child.

December 24, 3 p.m.

December 25, Noon
This service in song and word has become one of the nation's most cherished holiday celebrations. The festival includes hymns, carols, choral works and orchestral selections celebrating the nativity and featuring more than 500 student musicians in five choirs, as well as the St. Olaf Orchestra.

December 24, 5 p.m.

The choirs of two of the nation's most prestigious historically Black institutions join together to present a spine-tingling Christmas concert.

December 24, 6 p.m.

December 25, 4 p.m.
Stile Antico is a 13-member a cappella choir based in London. This holiday special features hand-picked sacred music for the Christmas season from the English Tudor era by 16th-century composers including Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.

December 25, 9 a.m.

Count down the top Christmas songs as voted by Your Classical listeners.

December 25, 11 a.m.

This VocalEssence holiday concert is an hour of joyful, classic holiday music from, one of the world’s premiere choral groups, singing traditional carols and new discoveries.

December 25, 2 p.m.

Imani Winds founding oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz hosts this hour of modern takes on classic Christmas carols. Toyin coaxes intimate stories of Christmas memories from the members of the ensemble, and why these classic carols are still essential today. You’ll hear many of your favorite carols updated with the ensembles’ imaginative take.

December 26, 4 p.m.

This delightful hour lets everyone celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights! There's music from Jewish communities around the world, a hilarious lesson on how to prepare a classic Chanukah dish, and a timeless and touching holiday story that brings light into every home.

December 28, Noon

The Met stages an English-language edition of Hansel and Gretel, a festive interpretation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Soprano Hera Hyesang Park and mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong headline as the siblings lost in the woods, and tenor John Daszak (in fright wig and fat suit) appears as their over-the-top nemesis, the Witch.

January 1, 10 a.m.

This New Year's Day program includes many favorites by Johann Strauss Junior, including the Waldmeister Overture and the New Pizzicato Polka, as well as six items appearing in the concert for the first time. As it has for decades, the encore features the most famous waltz ever, From the Blue Danube.

The holidays bring us so many great stories. And allows us to share our favorite stories with the ones we love. Starting on Christmas Eve, IPR has several opportunities to hear classic public radio stories.

December 24, 9 a.m. – Midnight on all IPR News stations and again at 7 p.m. on IPR AM and Classical stations

The incomparable Doug Brown, longtime host of WOI’s The Book Club, reads Dickens’ holiday classic.

December 24, Noon on all IPR News stations
December 25, 8 p.m. on IPR AM stations
We love the holidays, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. This seasonal special from SELECTED SHORTS, hosted by Meg Wolitzer, offers tales about uncommon roads traveled and features Andy Borowitz, Michael Tucker, Pascale Armand and Stuart McLean.

December 25, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

"Tinsel Tales" features stories from the NPR archives that touch on the meaning of Christmas. Joy, hope, and childhood memories overflow as NPR voices, past and present, tell stories of the season. In the last hour, we revisit Christmas stories through song through interviews with musicians about their Christmas albums.

December 25, 2 p.m.

Hear even more stories of the season in this special, dedicated to the festival of lights.