Indy “Festival of Carols” Concert Finds National Audience

Missed the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir’s frosty festivities at the Carmel Palladium this year? You’re in luck–the 2015 “Festival of Carols” concert, featuring two-time Grammy Award–winning soprano Sylvia McNair, hits Indy-area homes on WFYI (Indianapolis), WIPB (Muncie), and WTIU (Bloomington) December 21, 24, and 25. The 25th-anniversary show comes to the rest of the country throughout December, debuting on public television stations in markets from NYC to LA in its first-ever national broadcast.

The hour-long special features Christmas carols, ballet dancers, and the holiday harmonies of the choir’s 200 volunteer singers. The choir makes a habit of choosing soloists with Hoosier roots: McNair graduated from IU’s Jacobs School of Music and made her professional concert debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1980.

The concert will screen on stations in more than 40 cities before wrapping up with an early-morning finale on ETV in Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina, on December 26.

This could be the year viewers across the country start a new Hoosier holiday tradition—no parking, paycheck, or even pants required.

Indy-area viewers can catch the “Festival of Carols” concert on WFYI Thursday, December 21 at 8 p.m., Sunday, December 24 at 2 p.m., and again on WFYI3 at 8 p.m. Muncie residents can tune in to WIPB December 24 at 11 p.m., and Bloomington residents can cue up a Christmas Day showing on WTIU Monday, December 25 at 12:30 p.m.