Holiday

You might spend your Labor Day at a cookout or a mattress sale, or packing away your flip-flops. But maybe you just want to relax and contemplate the meaning behind the holiday. Listen to these works celebrating workers.

Who needs another playing of Lee Greenwood’s gooey, inordinate, moralistic schlep of a song ‘God Bless the USA’ when there’s so much other great Americana music to explore for Independence Day? Classical host Ward Jacobson offers his recommendations for a musical July Fourth to remember.

‘Shine: A Summer Solstice Celebration’ highlights composers and musicians who celebrate this glorious season and will inspire listeners to celebrate the longest day of the year. Listen now with host Melanie Renate.

'Dreams of the Fallen' recognizes and memorializes through music and poetry those who have protected our country — often at great sacrifice — from before its founding to the present. Listen now to this tribute to U.S. military heroes.

Join John Birge in this joyful hour of music for chorus and orchestra that captures the spirit of Easter and the rebirth of spring. ‘Song of Joy: The Mendelssohns’ features choral settings by siblings Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, showcasing their enormous talent and culminating with a festive ‘Hymn of Praise’ based on Psalms and other biblical texts.

The beloved holiday of Passover, which runs April 5 to 13, commemorates the Exodus of the Jewish people from enslavement to freedom. Join host Adam Fine for ‘Melodies of Freedom,’ a musical celebration of Passover that explores the power of music to bring people together. Listen now.

For the first time since 2015, the North Dakota State University Challey School of Music performed its annual holiday tradition ‘Messiah’ at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Minneapolis in late 2022. Listen now to that performance for Easter.

In Ireland, the instrument almost always missing from a traditional Irish music ‘session’ is the piano, but Irish music is increasingly championed and performed by classical pianists. Join Andrea Blain for “Irish Music and the Piano: From Shebeen to Stage,” an entertaining and ear-warming special filled with Irish folk and traditional tunes transcribed, arranged and composed for piano.

As we celebrate Presidents Day, the presidential anthem, ‘'Hail to the Chief,’ might come to mind. But, ironically, this little ditty associated with the U.S. leader has its roots in a Scottish poem and music by a British composer.

YourClassical MPR’s live broadcast of 'A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols' from King's College, Cambridge, with host Michael Barone, has ended. You may download the Order of Service for the 2022 program.