A celebration of Christmas in the music and words of our Warren County neighbors will fill the air over the next two days on public radio WCPI 91.3.The series of locally recorded programs includes McMinnville’s fabled Silver and Gold Band presenting its 2016 yuletide program. The concert, recorded Dec. 11 at Three Star Mall and featuring many of the Christmas classics, will be air at 1 p.m. Saturday, Christmas Eve.Next on the Saturday schedule, starting at 2 p.m., will be the Christmas cantata that was recorded before a live audience at historic Liberty Cumberland Presbyterian Church. At 3 p.m., members of the McMinnville Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints offer a radio dramatization of what is known to history as the Christ Truce, one of the most remarkable, and hopeful, moments in World War I.Also Saturday, the weekly Opera Showcase with Kym Jones as hostess and narrator, brings together some of the world’s foremost artists in a full presentation of George Frederick Handel’s glorious oratorio “Messiah,” complete with the ever-popular Hallelujah Chorus, starting at 4 p.m. Soloists will include Samuel Ramey and Kathleen Battle, along with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Chorus directed by Andrew Davis.The First Baptist Church Choir presents its 2016 Advent musical “Light of Bethlehem,” along with a contemplative monologue and the FBC Worship Band on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Included in the program, recorded in the church sanctuary Sunday evening, will be “A Christmas Hallelujah” featuring Marshal Trembley.The public radio series also includes the majestic service of Nine Lessons and Carols recorded over a period of several years at All Saints Chapel at the University of the South in Sewanee.
Celebrations of Christmas will fill air on 91.3