Houston Public Media’s Holiday Special, “The Christmas Revels,” Airs Locally And Nationally

A holiday offering by Houston Public Media for more than 20 years, The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice is a two-hour radio broadcast that journeys through several cultures and eras, featuring excerpts from live stage performances by Revels companies around the United States.

"The music in the Christmas Revels program beautifully and joyfully expresses the themes that have always been associated with Winter Solstice festivals: peace, love, celebration, brotherhood, fellowship, and the idea that, even when things look their worst, the light will always return to triumph over the darkness," said long-time producer Bob Stevenson.

Produced at Houston Public Media, the holiday special is hosted by Catherine Lu and engineered by Audio Producer and Technical Director Mark DiClaudio. The program is distributed nationally by PRI (Public Radio International). Last year's program aired on 109 public radio stations across the country.

This year's broadcast is an all-new compilation of songs, dances, poetry, storytelling, and traditions from Medieval England, the Celtic lands of Wales and Galicia (in northwestern Spain), early 19^th-century French Canada, Renaissance Italy, Spanish-speaking Old California, and the Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.

From Christmas, The Feast of St. Nicholas, and Hanukkah to St. Lucia’s Day, New Year’s, Twelfth Night, and Winter Solstice traditions, the program explores celebrations around the world. It drives the cold winter away with carols, hymns, wassails, polkas, villancicos, fiddle and bagpipe tunes, drinking songs, and more performed by Houston's own Revels company, as well companies based in Hanover, New Hampshire; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C.; Oakland, California; Santa Barbara, California; Portland, Oregon; and Tacoma, Washington.

Tune in for The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice 2018 on Houston Public Media's stations on the following dates and local times:

News 88.7 (radio and streaming) – Monday, December 24 at 10pm

HPM Classical (HD-2 radio and streaming) – Sunday, December 23 at 10pm, Monday, December 24 at 2pm, and Tuesday, December 25 at 8pm

You can also listen via iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Stitcher.