Christmas on the BBC

The BBC has published information about what delights we have to look forward to during the Christmas season, a period which usually frankly has me running for the digi-box and our back-log of recorded programmes. We have the usual suspects, there is Carols from Kings, and we revisit the Military Wives Choir. The Archbishop of Canterbury gives his New Year's message and, in a separate programme muses on his departure from Canterbury. The present Queen's message is, of course, a staple of Christmas Day. There is also a three part programme on Queen Victoria's fraught relationships with her children, and BBC 4 has a Screen Goddesses season.


Christmas Day Eucharist on BBC 1 is from St. Mary Redcliffe in Bristol and Midnight Mass from St Anne's Cathedral, Leeds, using Vierne's Grande Messe Solonelle as the setting.  And David Suchet goes off in the footsteps of St. Paul. Victoria Wood has developed a play about the amazing story of pianist Joyce Hatto and the recordings passed of as hers.  Plus such wayward delights as an interview with Sister Wendy (now aged 82), and a programme about the real Von Trapp family. Over on Radio 3 there is a cycle of new Mystery Plays, each a re-working of a New Testament story in a contemporary context.

Doesn't quite look a vintage season, but more details may emerge. Further information from the BBC website.

Elsewhere on this blog:

• The Mikado - London Coliseum
• Gabrieli Young Singers scheme
• L'Incoronazione di Poppea at the Royal College of Music
• Merton College Choir - Choral at Cadogan
• Don Quichotte at Chelsea Opera Group
• Passion and discipline - Russion Virtuosi of Europe at Cadogan Hall
• Creating socially responsible individuals as well as musicians - In Harmony Sistema England
• The Natural History of the Piano
• Home