Christmas

Your Favorite Holiday Memory

By Nancy Deneen • Nov 30, 2020

Share your favorite holiday memory with Classical IPR!

Whether you fondly recall a sneaky plan to see Santa, playing dreidel way past bedtime, a surprise homecoming or a giant snowstorm, we want to hear from you!

Sounds of the Season 2019 - LIVE Broadcast from Interlochen

By Nancy Deneen • Dec 16, 2019

Sounds of the Season, Interlochen's highly-anticipated holiday show, is performed by Interlochen Arts Academy students and faculty. It is a family-friendly concert centered around this festive time of year.

The Interlochen Arts Academy Wind Symphony and Choir present holiday songs with favorites for all ages. This annual celebration has become a tradition for many local residents, with classical holiday music and a sing-along. The show also features Interlochen Public Radio's own Kate Botello!

Listen to the live broadcast on Tuesday at 7 p.m. 

Christmas Day from Northern Michigan: Traverse Symphony Orchestra's 'Home for the Holidays'

By • Dec 21, 2017
This edition of Classical IPR in Concert features pianist Ralph Votapek and the Traverse Symphony Orchestra in "Beethoven Squared."

  

Join Classical IPR on Christmas Day at 12 p.m. for Home for the Holidays, the 2017 holiday concert from the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. View the complete Home for the Holidays concert program below.

View Classical IPR's complete holiday program schedule by clicking here.

The “Harvard of Santa Schools” can be found in Midland, Michigan

By • Dec 21, 2017

“He errs who thinks Santa enters through the chimney. Santa enters through the heart.”

So said the founder of the Charles W. Howard Santa School in Midland, Michigan.

Yes, you read that right. There is such a thing as Santa school, and the one in Michigan is the longest-running in the country. With students coming from as far as Australia and Denmark, it’s known as the “Harvard of Santa Schools.”

Christmas Day from Northern Michigan: Manitou Winds' 'Winter Songs and Carols'

By • Dec 19, 2017

Join Classical IPR on Christmas Day at 4 p.m. for Winter Songs and Carols, the 2017 holiday concert from Manitou Winds. View the complete Songs and Carols concert program below.

View Classical IPR's complete holiday program schedule by clicking here.

In the middle of summer, Bronner's is still a Christmas wonderland

By • Aug 1, 2017

In a place that gets as cold as Michigan, lots of people try to soak up as much of the summer sun as they can. But at Bronner's Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, people are already thinking ahead to colder, snowier months. 

Bronner's Christmas Wonderland is a year-round destination in Michigan. It's one of the central attractions of Frankenmuth, the cozy tourist town known sometimes as "Little Bavaria." 

In new children’s book, a little girl’s Christmas wish is for her soldier dad to come home

By • Dec 21, 2016

A children's book can be filled with wisdom and a message that resonates with readers of all ages.

That is certainly the case with Traverse City-based writer Bill O. Smith's new children's book Four a.m. December 25.

It is the story of a very special gift for a little girl.

The holly and the … mistletoe: this week on The Green Room

By • Dec 15, 2016
A variety of plants play a large role in Christmas traditions around the world.
NPR

Red and green are the traditional Christmas colors. But why? How did those colors get that distinction? 

“Because Holly was red and green, we’ve accepted those as the two Christmas colors,” says Coggin Heeringa. 

 

'A Christmas Carol in Prose': this week on The Green Room

By • Dec 1, 2016
Bill Church plays the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in Parallel 45 Theatre Company's version of 'A Christmas Carol in Prose.'
Parallel 45 Theatre Company

Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in the mid-19th century. 

Since then, the Christmas tale has become engrained in our everyday culture. There’s been film adaptations, operas, and countless stage versions of the story.

The name "Scrooge" has even become a term in our language, as a description for someone who is miserly.

But popularity comes with it’s downsides. For one, audiences know the story so well, they can forget the greater meaning of it. And elaborate set designs and huge casts can be distracting.

And that’s why for Parallel 45 Theatre Company, less is more when it comes to this Christmas classic.


MSU Jazz professor releases new album fusing jazz, soul, and creole music into a new holiday mix

By • Dec 18, 2015

If you’re already getting tired of the same old Christmas tunes this year, look no further than a new album called Creole Christmas. It’s by trumpet player and Michigan State University jazz professor, Etienne Charles.

The album combines, jazz, soul, and Creole music into a holiday mix with both instrumental tracks and vocal tracks that put a soulful spin on some standards, like Go Tell It on the Mountain and This Christmas to some holiday songs from Trinidad that you’ve probably never heard of.

The best holiday films: this week on The Green Room

By Daniel Wanschura • Dec 17, 2015
Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed star in Frank Capra's classic, "It's a Wonderful Life."

As the Creative Director for The Traverse City Film Festival, Meg Weichman, has seen a lot of films over the years. This week, she stopped by our studio to give us her top five holiday films of all time. “When I put together this list, it was pretty agonizing,” says Weichman. And don’t think the conversation stops at her top five either— Meg also reveals what holiday film offends her most basic sensibilities. 

Plus, our own Aaron Selbig will make his pitch as to why the film Die Hard, is and should be considered a classic Christmas flick.  


Commentary: Searching for a black Santa

By • Dec 10, 2015

Alas, Detroiters, this is going to be our first Christmas without Northland Mall. And that raises a difficult question for the black community — where will we go to find a black Santa Claus?

Ever since I can remember, Northland was the sure-fire place where parents could take their kids to see a black Santa. My children grew up with two astounding life experiences that, for me, are the hallmark of the progress we have made as a race: They've never voted for a white president, and they've never sat upon the lap of a white Santa.