Poster from the cover of the first edition of "A Christmas Carol"
Cover of the cloth first edition of "A Christmas Carol" (1843)
via Wikimedia Commons
Performance Today®

A Christmas Carol

In "A Christmas Carol," Ebenezer Scrooge not only hates Christmas, he hates generosity itself... at least until three uninvited house-guests demonstrate what greed might cost him. Join us today for a musical retelling of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Hector Berlioz: The Birth of Christ: The Shepherd's Chorus
Boston Pops Orchestra & Tanglewood Festival Chorus | Keith Lockhart, conductor
Album: Holiday Pops
RCA 63252

Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride
Boston Pops Orchestra | Keith Lockhart, conductor
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

Traditional Spanish, arr. Gonzalo Grau: Hacia Belen va una Burra Rin-Rin
Magos Herrera, vocals | The Knights | Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Album: THE KNIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Bright Shiny Things 159

Traditional Austrian: Still, Still, Still
Adagio Trio
Album: Winter Gift
Adagio Trio 2

Elizabeth Poston: Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
Spivey Hall Tour Choir | Martha Shaw, conductor
Spivey Hall, Clayton State University, Morrow, GA

Ariel Ramirez: Gloria, from Misa Criolla
St. Olaf Choir | Anton Armstrong, conductor
St Olaf Christmas Festival, Skoglund Auditorium, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN

Stephen Sondheim: Into the Woods: No One Is Alone
Boston Pops Orchestra | John Williams, conductor
Album: Music of the Night: Pops on Broadway 1990
Sony 45567

Claude Thornhill: Snowfall
Boston Pops Orchestra | John Williams, conductor
Album: Swing, Swing, Swing
Philips 412626

Richard Matheson: I Wish It Could Be Christmas Forever
Guy Campion and Mario Vachon, pianos
Album: Noel Pianissimo
Analektra 9818

Traditional: Jul, Jul
WDR Chorus | Stefan Parkman, conductor
Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany

Carlos Salzedo: 4 Short Fantasies
Xavier de Maistre, harp
Album: Christmas Harp
Sony 88463

Paul Salerni: Bethlehem Carol
Houston Chamber Choir | Robert Simpson, conductor
Houston Chamber Choir, Chapel of the Villa de Matel, Houston, TX

John Francis Wade: O Come, All Ye Faithful
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra | Lars-Thomas Holm, conductor
Stavanger Concert Hall, Fartein Valen Hall (Main Hall), Norway

Traditional, arr. Bernhard Severin Ingemann: Beautiful Savior
Trio Medieval | Stavanger Symphony Orchestra | Lars-Thomas Holm, conductor
Stavanger Concert Hall, Fartein Valen Hall (Main Hall), Norway

Hour 2

Traditional: Cold Frosty Morning/Old Christmas/Breakin' Up Christmas
Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra | Jeannette Sorrell, conductor
Album: Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain: An Irish-Appalachian Celebration
Avie 2396

John Jacob Niles: I Wonder As I Wander
Kirkmount: Alex Bigney, harp and bones | Samuel Bigney, fiddle | Simeon Bigney, cello and bodhran
Album: Mittens for Christmas
Dorian 93236

Georgy Sviridov: Molitva ("Prayer")
Chanticleer | Kory Reid, conductor
Concerts at St. Ignatius, Church of St Ignatius Loyola, New York, NY

Jaakko Mäntyjärvi: Die Stimme des Kindes
Chanticleer | Kory Reid, conductor
Concerts at St. Ignatius, Church of St Ignatius Loyola, New York, NY

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Wassail Song from "Two Songs of Winter"
Judy Mason, piano | Spivey Hall Children's Choir | Martha Shaw, conductor
Spivey Hall, Clayton State University, Morrow, GA

Traditional: Child in a Manger/ Gloucestershire Wassail
Kirkmount: Alex Bigney, harp and bones | Samuel Bigney, fiddle | Simeon Bigney, cello and bodhran
Album: Mittens for Christmas
Dorian 93236

Traditional German: While by My Sheep (Als ich bei meinen Schafen)
Blake Eliason, Beth VanDam, James VanDam, soloists | Salt Lake Children's Choir | Ralph Woodward, conductor
Salt Lake Children's Choir, Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, UT

Traditional French: Il Est Ne / Masters in This Hall / Noel
Adagio Trio
Album: Winter Gift
Adagio Trio 2

Traditional, arr. David Wilcocks: Sweet was the Song the Virgin Sang
Choir of King's College, Cambridge | David Willcocks, conductor
Album: On Christmas Night
London/Decca 425499

Traditional: Maria durch ein Dornwald ging
Uppsala Academic Chamber Choir | Stefan Parkman, conductor
Album: Winter Sounds
Footprint 85

Harold Darke, arr. Ken Gist: In the Bleak Midwinter
Adagio Trio
Album: Winter Gift
Adagio Trio 2

Alan Silvestri: A Christmas Carol: I'm Still Here from the film
Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra
Album: A Christmas Carol Original Soundtrack
Walt Disney 49208

Alan Silvestri: A Christmas Carol: Ride On My Good Man from the film
Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra
Album: A Christmas Carol Original Soundtrack
Walt Disney 49208

Vijay Singh: A Glimpse of Snow and Evergreen
Oregon Chorale | Jason Sabino, conductor
Album: A Glimpse of Snow and Evergreen
SELF PROD

Love the music?

Donate by phone
1-800-562-8440

Show your support by making a gift to YourClassical.

Each day, we’re here for you with thoughtful streams that set the tone for your day – not to mention the stories and programs that inspire you to new discovery and help you explore the music you love.

YourClassical is available for free, because we are listener-supported public media. Take a moment to make your gift today.

More Ways to Give

Your Donation

$5/month
$10/month
$15/month
$20/month
$

Latest Performance Today® Episodes

VIEW ALL EPISODES

Latest Performance Today® Episodes

Augustin Hadelich and the St Louis Symphony

Augustin Hadelich and the St Louis Symphony

Once troubled by pre-concert jitters so intense that he needed a push to get on stage, violinist Augustin Hadelich has discovered a new sense of calm. Breathing exercises have transformed his performance experience, making the stage feel like home. On today's program, Agustin Hadelich and the St. Louis Symphony play music by Samuel Barber.

1:59:00
James Ehnes and Sibelius's Violin Concerto

James Ehnes and Sibelius's Violin Concerto

Violinist James Ehnes says the first movement of Jean Sibelius's Violin Concerto feels like a conversation. It's as if someone is about to divulge something important—they may not know HOW to say it, or even if they WANT to tell you, but they're going to tell you anyway. To Ehnes, it feels like a hesitant yet necessary conversation, as if the music is finally revealing a long-held secret. In today's episode, Thomas Søndergård leads the Minnesota Orchestra, with soloist James Ehnes, in Jean Sibelius's Violin Concerto.

1:59:00
William Grant Still: Ennanga

William Grant Still: Ennanga

Inspired by the buzzy resonance of the ennanga (African trough zither), William Grant Still incorporated the spirit of Central and East African folk music into a Western chamber setting. Still drew on the instrument’s unique character as inspiration for this piece for harp, piano, and strings. Join us today to hear harpist Lily Primus lead Rice University’s Shepherd School Chamber Players in a concert performance of William Grant Still’s ‘Ennanga.’

1:59:00
Louise Farrenc's luminous second symphony

Louise Farrenc's luminous second symphony

Although Louise Farrenc was the only woman to hold a permanent position at the Paris Conservatory in the 19th century, her Symphony No. 2 demonstrates that her compositional talent rivaled that of the most renowned male composers of her time. Join us today as Nil Venditti leads the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra in a recent performance of Farrenc’s Symphony No. 2.

1:59:00
Dvorak's "New World" Symphony

Dvorak's "New World" Symphony

On today's show, we're highlighting Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World." Conductor Cristian Măcelaru explains how the composer's work captures an American soundscape while also beautifully reflecting his own Czech heritage. The result, Măcelaru says, is a powerful contribution from an immigrant artist to American culture.

1:59:00
PT Weekend: Mieczyslaw Weinberg

PT Weekend: Mieczyslaw Weinberg

By the time Mieczyslaw Weinberg composed his second symphony, he had already escaped the Nazis twice. Soon after, he would face the horrors of Stalin's regime directly. However, in 1945, he was relatively safe in Moscow thanks to his friendship with Dmitri Shostakovich. On today's show, we'll hear Weinberg's Symphony No. 2 performed live at the 2025 Salzburg Festival in Austria.

1:59:00
Aristo Sham at the Cliburn

Aristo Sham at the Cliburn

Pianist Aristo Sham believes the true measure of a competition is how it treats its musicians. He praises the Cliburn Competition for making contestants feel less like rivals and more like respected artists at a festival. Today, we'll hear Aristo Sham perform music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Gabriella Montero, recorded live at the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

1:59:00
Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture

Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture

Despite the English horn’s misleading name—it’s neither English nor a horn—the instrument produces a famously "angelic" sound that takes center stage in Hector Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture. Berlioz originally composed the music for his opera Benvenuto Cellini. Though the opera flopped, he salvaged its best melodies to create an orchestral centerpiece. In today's episode, Andrés Orozco-Estrada leads the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in a concert performance of the Roman Carnival Overture.

1:59:00
Isata Kanneh-Mason plays a dark Ravel masterpiece

Isata Kanneh-Mason plays a dark Ravel masterpiece

In the 19th century, French writer Aloysius Bertrand sought to achieve with words what Rembrandt did with light and shadow, creating a collection of dark, poetic hallucinations titled Gaspard de la nuit. Decades later, those eerie verses inspired Maurice Ravel to write one of the most notoriously difficult piano suites. On today's program, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason performs the framing movements of Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, recorded live at the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

1:59:00
Starr Parodi goes with the flow

Starr Parodi goes with the flow

In the 1990s, composer Starr Parodi had a frightening encounter with a South Pacific riptide. She drew an inspirational parallel from that experience to a much more recent tragedy: the 2025 Pacific Palisades fire that destroyed her home and studio. Through both events, she discovered that resilience often comes from letting go rather than fighting the flow. On today's show, Delyana Lazarova conducts the ensemble ROCO in Starr Parodi's meditation on surrender, Riptide.

1:59:00
VIEW ALL EPISODES

About Performance Today®

To find a station near you on our Stations Listings page, click here.

American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.

Hosted by Valerie Kahler, Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country.

How do I leave a comment?

Send us a comment here.

About Performance Today®
YourClassical Radio
00:00
Infinity:NaN