Merry Christmas from KRTS Marfa! Here's a rundown of the special programs we have scheduled for today.
10 AM, A Folk Alley Christmas - Folky Christmas tunes, from the thousand year old song Holly and the Ivy to the 1960′s Mr Grinch. Selections from one John Fahey’s groundbreaking 1975 Christmas album to one by youngster Sufjan Stevens. A Folk Alley recording of Celtic Band Grada performing a rip-roaring fiddle version of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree to a lovely version of O Tannenbaum on zithers.
11 AM, A Celtic Christmas - An hour-long holiday special featuring Irish storyteller Tomáseen Foley and his charming tale "Parcel from America." The program also features music from guitarist William Coulter, fiddler Deby Benton Grojean, and piper Todd Denman, as well as songs from Moira Smiley
3 PM, A Christmas Gift For You - The inside story behind this 1963 album featuring performances by The Ronettes, The Crystals, Darlene Love and Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans that raised the bar for pop/rock arrangements of classic holiday songs. Includes interviews with singers Darlene Love and LaLa Brooks, musicians Nino Tempo, Don Randi and Hal Blaine. Hosted by Anthony DeCurtis.
5 PM, Choirs and Carols - Hear musicians from around the world in NPR's performance studio as they share special holiday moments. Join us for ancient harmonies from Trio Medieval, traditional carols from the Riga Dom Boys Choir, and a rarely heard Christmas song by Sibelius, straight from Finland's YL Choir. The Pittsburgh Brass unpacks a pair of 500-pound bells to ring in the holiday, and the members of Trio Voronezh tune up a balalaika or two.
6 PM to 8 PM, Christmas Vespers with Apollo’s Fire – Apollo’s Fire gives a rousing, vital performance of music that the early 17th century German composer Michael Praetorius might have used at Lutheran services for Advent and Christmas Day Vespers. The concert features a “big band” of strings, winds, children’s and adult’s voices, and period brass including sackbuts, trumpets, and cornetti. Included are settings of familiar chorales such as In Dulci Jubilo, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland and Joseph Lieber Joseph Mein; and such beloved Praetorius compositions as Puer Natus in Bethlehem and Lo How a Rose. The Boston Globe says that Apollo’s Fire, Cleveland’s Baroque Orchestra, is “one of America’s leading Baroque orchestras, capable of competing with Europe’s much-recorded bands.”