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 hates Christmas and 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

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 Mantyjarvi: 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: Fum, Fum, Fum!
Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra | Jeannette Sorrell, conductor
Album: Noels & Carols from the Olde World
Koch 7582

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

Hour 2

Adhamhnan and Uinseann Mac Domhnaill: Cro na Nollag (The Christmas Stable)
Kiri O'Neill, soprano | Emily Doyle, soprano | The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643

Traditional English, arr. John Hoybye: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643

Gabriel Faure, arr. Christina Courtin: Requiem: Pie Jesu
Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor | The Knights | Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Album: THE KNIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Bright Shiny Things 159

Gustav Holst, arr. Michael P. Atkinson: In the Bleak Midwinter
The Knights | Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Album: THE KNIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Bright Shiny Things 159

Rebecca Dale: Winter
Voces8
Album: Winter
London/Decca 25736

Traditional, arr. Snorri Sigfús Birgisson: Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming / Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen
Ane Brun, vocals
Album: Winter Tales
DG 28948615049

Johann Sebastian Bach: Christmas Oratorio: Sinfonia
Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra | Michael Davis, conductor
Album: Festival of Carols
Naxos 579065

Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Joep Beving: Sinfonia (After Bach, BWV 248)
Joep Beving, electronics
Album: Winter Tales
DG 28948615049

Eoghan Desmond: Be All Merry
Katherine Hunka, violin | The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Irish Chamber Orchestra | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643

Andrej Makor: O Magnum Mysterium
Eleanor Coleman, soprano | Maximilian O'Neill, tenor | The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Desmond Earley, conductor 
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643

Howard Blake, arr. Ronn McFarlane: Walking in the Air
Ronn McFarlane, lute
Album: Imagine Christmas
Sono Luminous DSL-92216

Elaine Agnew: Curoo Curoo
The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Irish Chamber Orchestra | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643

Linda Kachelmeier: We Toast the Days
Ciaran O'Donovan, tenor | Ivan O'Neill, baritone | The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643

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

2025 Classical Woman of the Year: Jessie Montgomery

2025 Classical Woman of the Year: Jessie Montgomery

‘Performance Today’ has selected performer and composer Jessie Montgomery as the 2025 Classical Woman of the Year. This annual award recognizes women who have made significant contributions to the classical music art form and have inspired our listeners. Find out more!

PT Weekend: Brahms: Symphony No. 4

PT Weekend: Brahms: Symphony No. 4

Johannes Brahms described his fourth symphony as "dark and melancholy." The powerful final movement is built on a theme from a Bach cantata, creating a massive, ebbing chaconne that balances gravity and beauty. Today, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Zurich Philharmonia in a performance of Brahms's Symphony No. 4.

1:59:00
Alban Gerhardt

Alban Gerhardt

Cellist Alban Gerhardt grew up inspired by the warmth of his mother’s soprano voice, yet he finds his own vocal expression in the strings of his cello. Join us today to hear Gerhardt perform Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Cello Concerto with the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Delyana Lazarova.

1:59:00
Derrick Skye: Deliverance

Derrick Skye: Deliverance

The pressure to achieve perfection can be overwhelming. So, what would it be like to embrace vulnerability and imperfection? For composer Derrick Skye, it's a profound release from fear and anxiety. In today’s episode, we’ll hear a quartet inspired by the idea of imperfection: Deliverance by Derrick Skye.

1:59:00
Brahms: Symphony No. 4

Brahms: Symphony No. 4

Johannes Brahms described his fourth symphony as "dark and melancholy." The powerful final movement is built on a theme from a Bach cantata, creating a massive, ebbing chaconne that balances gravity and beauty. Today, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Zurich Philharmonia in a performance of Brahms's Symphony No. 4.

1:59:00
The Pacifica Quartet plays "break-up music"

The Pacifica Quartet plays "break-up music"

When Felix Mendelssohn was in his late teens, he processed his first romantic heartbreak by "breaking up" one of his own songs and weaving its fragments into his String Quartet No. 2. On today's show, we'll hear the Pacifica Quartet perform this emotionally charged work, which was once famously—and perhaps fittingly—mistaken for the music of Beethoven.

1:59:00
Isata Kanneh-Mason

Isata Kanneh-Mason

Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason draws inspiration from Clara Schumann both as a musician and as a powerful female role model. On today's show, Kanneh-Mason performs Schumann’s Piano Concerto, a piece Schumann began composing at just 13 years old.

1:59:00
PT Weekend: Hanna Helgegren

PT Weekend: Hanna Helgegren

On today’s episode, we're featuring the world premiere of a new suite by Hanna Helgegren. Inspired by the quiet magic of the forests and bogs near her home in rural Sweden, the work pays tribute to the natural world. On today's show, we'll hear the Camerata Nordica Octet perform Helgegren’s "The Nordic Seasons."

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

James Ehnes and Dvořák's Violin Concerto

Violinist James Ehnes says Dvořák's Violin Concerto can surprise listeners. Many violin concertos emphasize high, soaring notes, but Dvořák’s work highlights the rich, warm colors of the violin’s lower register. Join us today to hear Dvořák's concerto performed by James Ehnes and the Minnesota Orchestra, with Edward Gardner conducting.

1:59:00
Kevin Puts: Home

Kevin Puts: Home

For composer Kevin Puts, the key of C major is a sonic representation of "home." It's familiar and comforting. In 2019, Puts wrote a string quartet that begins in that familiar key, but the music soon moves into what Puts calls "the search for new and unfamiliar harmonic terrain." He wanted the music to explore the sonic possibilities, but then return to his musical idea of home. Puts knew that, however he got there, the feeling of home would be changed by the journey. Join us today to hear the Miro Quartet play Home by Kevin Puts.

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
0:00
0:00