Bravo! has unveiled a lineup of holiday programming heavy on performances by Canadian musicians including the Barenaked Ladies and The Rankin Sisters, though the arts channel also left room for some Tchaikovsky and Gordon Pinsent.

The Rankin Sisters return to their Nova Scotia hometown to perform holiday carols in The Rankin Sisters – Home For Christmas, a one-hour special narrated by Down East author Alistair MacLeod, which will air Dec. 11. Immediately following is Glorious Christmas, in which some of pop music’s biggest stars perform traditional holiday songs from the Vatican. Among the singers are Bryan Adams, Dionne Warwick, Tom Jones, Sarah Brightman and Manhattan Transfer.

On Dec. 15, The Swinging Nutcracker reworks Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet using ’30s and ’40s swing music, followed by the Bravo! original production, Barenaked for the Holidays, in which the ‘Ladies’ perform original songs inspired by the season, plus fun renditions of traditional carols. The Come Into the Parlour special will feature Canadian opera stars Benjamin Butterfield, Peter Fisher and Jo-Anne Bentley on Dec. 20, and will be followed by the HBO MOW The Christmas Wife.

Gordon Pinsent will put in a brief appearance on Dec. 21 in a re-run of the short The Voice of Father Christmas, from Bravo!FACT, reading from the Dylan Thomas poem A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Following is the Bravo!Videos Christmas special, with songs from Il Divo, David Bowie, Bing Crosby and Sting.

From Media in Canada