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WCPE Offers Special Programming for the Winter Holidays

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (December 12, 2008)—Assistant Music Director and “Classical Lunch” host Larry Kirwan of WCPE, TheClassicalStation.org, announces the station’s seasonal music offerings for December 17 through January 1, 2009.

“Preview!” host Deana Vassar will begin the celebration with “Christmas Stories”, December 17, 7 p.m. and December 20, 4 p.m. This special program offers some of the history behind the world's great carols and celebrates some of the greatest stories of the holiday captured in film classics and literature.

Kirwan hosts “Away in a Manger: A Musical Creche”, December 19, 1 p.m. and December 23, 7 p.m. The program builds a musical nativity scene, with views of the Shepherds, Angels, Wise Men and the baby Jesus as seen through the eyes of composers through the ages.

“I invite the audience to join me in the tradition of building a manger scene, or crčche”, say Kirwan. “We'll explore its roots and build our own creche, with musical figures instead of porcelain ones. I will include the story of the living manger scene done at Greccio by St. Francis of Assisi, which is thought to be where the tradition began."

Other special programs will be “Leroy Anderson Christmas Special” December 19, 7 p.m., “Brass and Choral Holiday Concert” with the ensemble Music of the Baroque, December 21, Noon and Handel’s “Messiah”, Christmas Eve, 4 p.m.

Listeners will be treated to special operatic selections that will air December 24 7 p.m. A previously recorded program of the late Al Ruocchio, “The Great Sacred Music of Christmas,” will offer seasonal favorites sung by stars of the opera stage. Christmas Day Gian Carol Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” will air at 7 p.m.

New Year’s Eve will ring out the old and in the new with favorite waltzes, marches and other classics by Viennese composers Josef Lanner, Emil Walteufel and the Strauss Family 9 p.m. to midnight. The celebration continues with New Year’s Day with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at 1 p.m. A special Opera House concludes the fun with J. Strauss Jr.’s “Die Fledermaus” at 7 p.m.

The Great Classical Music, 24 Hours A Day offered by WCPE transcends belief systems, being crafted by artists from all traditions and listened to by a global audience reflective of the world’s diversity. Found throughout WCPE’s programming are the traditions of people from all walks of life.

WCPE’s live broadcast of Great Classical Music, 24 Hours A Day can be accessed around the globe in several ways; on-line streaming in multiple formats, including IPv6, local cable television systems and traditional radio broadcasting. A complete list of the ways WCPE is available with instructions for cable and satellite reception can be found at theclassicalstation.org/listen.shtml.

In central North Carolina and southern Virginia, WCPE is found on the radio at 89.7 FM.

About WCPE:

With a 30-year history, WCPE is a non-commercial, 100 percent listener-supported, independent station dedicated to excellence in Great Classical Music, 24 Hours A Day. Community-minded business underwriters and foundations are among the 150,000 listeners in the North Carolina broadcast area. General Manager Deborah S. Proctor’s leadership has enabled the WCPE community to include national and worldwide listeners. Other radio stations and cable television systems can rebroadcast Great Classical Music, 24 Hours A Day. WCPE is one of the first public broadcasters to stream on the Internet. WCPE is heard worldwide on the Internet in multiple formats, including the next generation IPv6. Because WCPE receives no tax-derived support, the station conducts two on-air fundraising campaigns and two major mail-out campaigns per year to raise needed operating funds. Quarter Notes, the WCPE Program Guide, is published four times a year as a means to enhance appreciation and understanding of classical music. It is distributed to station supporters and is also available online at TheClassicalStation.org/guide. For more information, visit TheClassicalStation.Org or call 1-800-556-5178.

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