WXXI TV

Great Performances “Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony” • WXXI-TV

Performed from Highland Park’s Ravinia Festival, Great Performances presents legendary composer Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish symphony featuring the talent of Uniting Voices (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir), Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Great Performances “Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony” airs Sunday, February 2 at 2 p.m. WXXI-TV

Led by famed conductor and Bernstein protégé Marin Alsop, the work includes music and spoken narrative segments voiced by narrator Jaye Ladymore (“Chicago Med”) and sung by soprano soloist Janai Brugger (Great Performances at the Met: Medea). Recorded July 2022, the symphony examines questions of humanity and faith, exploring the complicated nature of a higher power who governs mortality.

RIT Shorts: Musicals • WXXI-TV

WXXI continues to put a spotlight on the work of Rochester Institute of Technology film and animation students by presenting a series of shorts biannually.

RIT Shorts: Musicals airs Thursday, January 30 at 5 p.m. on WXXI-TV and the WXXI-TV Live Stream.

RIT Shorts is a bi-annual series that showcases the work of some of RIT’s most impressive student filmmakers, offering these young producers a platform to share their films to a broader audience while offering WXXI viewers the chance to see the incredible talent that RIT is cultivating.

Featured shorts include:

In A Better Place by Eddie Mead and Kimmie King
An employee tries to convince her boss to improve their traditional ways.

The Chaos Clover by Devin Grover
When a man finally gets an elusive four-leaf clover, its magic isn’t quite what it seemed.

Stuffy: The Musical by Colin O’Brien
Jamie can’t wait to leave for college. But when on the morning of his departure, he discovers his childhood stuffed animal has mysteriously gone missing, he can’t leave without him.

Under the Mountain God by Grace Park
A girl follows a mysterious stranger through a mirror into a different world.

Fungeon by Derek Gieraltowski
FUNGEON: fun·geon | \ ˈfən-jən. (1) A fun dungeon??? (2) Purgatory but with a gift shop. (3) Your best nightmare. (4) Dinner and a show! …without the dinner. (5) My senior capstone film at RIT. (6) A dungeon…………. but fun.

Photo: Title card for Stuffy: The Musical

Finding Your Roots, Season 11 • WXXI-TV

In the new season of the Emmy® nominated series, nineteen celebrity guests sit down with Dr. Gates, Jr. to dive into their ancestral history and solve mysteries that have plagued their families.

Finding Your Roots airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming live on the WXXI app.

Gates and his team use genealogical detective work and cutting-edge DNA analysis to trace the family trees of twenty compelling guests, telling stories that illuminate America’s fundamental diversity. In addition to the all-star line-up, Gates will have his own familial mystery solved when the tables are turned and the celebrated host becomes a guest on an eagerly anticipated episode of the new season.

As the pages turn in each guest’s book of life, emotional revelations give way to complex questions about identity. Through Gates’ discerning touch, his guests learn what every family history shares—love, courage, and sacrifice—and how our histories transcend borders, merging to form an American root system fortified by its diversity. Along the way, viewers are transported from coastal Africa to the Mississippi Delta; from shtetls in the former Russian Empire to the ancestral lands of the Lakota Nation; from villages in the Philippines to a pirate enclave in Puerto Rico—all in search of the stories that will bring our guests’ ancestors to life. What’s more, this new season also includes a special reveal: the solution to a mystery that has haunted Gates’ own family for generations.

Upcoming episodes feature:
1/28: Actor Sharon Stone and model Chrissy Teigen
2/4: Celebrity chefs José Andrés and Sean Sherman
2/11: Musician Rubén Blades and journalist Natalie Morales
2/18: Actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard
2/25: Actors Debra Messing and Melanie Lynskey (
4/1: Historian Lonnie Bunch and actor Sheryl Lee Ralph
4/8: Actor Laurence Fishburne and host and executive producer Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Past episodes:
1/7: Actors Lea Salonga and Amanda Seyfried
1/14: Talk show host Joy Behar and actor Michael Imperioli
1/21: Novelist Amy Tan and poet Rita Dove

Photo: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Credit: PBS

America ReFramed “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America • WXXI-TV

The remarkable life of a fearless Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist.

America ReFramed “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America” airs Saturday, March 29 at 3 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

Fannie Lou Hamer’s America is a portrait of a civil rights activist and the injustices in America that made her work essential. Through public speeches, personal interviews, and powerful songs of the fearless Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America explores and celebrates the lesser-known life of one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest leaders.

Note: On January 4, 2025 Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer became the posthumous recipient of The Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Joe Biden presents the Medal to Doris Hamer Richardson, who accepted on behalf of her aunt, Fannie Lou Hamer. As one of the executive producers who worked on the “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America,” WXXI President & CEO Chris Hastings attended the ceremony.

Photo below from the Presidential Medal of Freedom event: Jed, Harriett and Salam Oppenheim, Selena Lauterer, President Joseph R. Biden, Doris Hamer Richardson, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Angela Hamer Johnson, Chris and Miles Hastings and Hillary Rosenfeld. Photo courtesy of the White House.

Dreams of Hope • WXXI-TV

This concert documentary tells the story of a historic performance at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, more than 50 years after a hate crime there killed four African American girls.

Dreams of Hope airs Sunday, February 2 at 1 p.m. WXXI-TV

An initiative called Violins of Hope contributed painstakingly restored musical instruments to the event, including violins recovered from Holocaust concentration camps, which serve as symbols of resilience in the face of hate, discrimination and racism.

With a captivating storyline written by filmmaker David L. Macon, “Dreams of Hope” blends concert performance footage with behind-the-scenes interviews chronicling the event’s preparation and reflecting on its significance.

Broadway’s Brightest Lights • WXXI-TV

Grab a front-row seat at a concert featuring new arrangements and timeless renditions of some of the greatest show tunes of musical theatre.

Broadway’s Brightest Lights • WXXI-TV airs Friday, January 24 at 9:30 p.m. WXXI-TV

Broadway’s Brightest Lights shines the spotlight on some of today’s best and brightest talents. Curated and conducted by Luke Frazier, the concert features Tony Award-winning Broadway star Megan Hilty alongside Michael Maliakel, Nikki Renée Daniels, and Tommy Sutter with The American Pops Orchestra. Highlighting some of the greatest show tunes, from Golden Age classics to modern musicals, each song features brand-new arrangements and timeless renditions to be enjoyed by Broadway fans of all ages.

Performances in Broadway’s Brightest Lights include “Popular” (Megan Hilty), “The Trolley Song” (Tommy Sutter), “Being Alive” (Michael Maliakel), “I Dreamed A Dream” (Nikki Renée Daniels), “Suddenly Seymour” (Michael Maliakel and Megan Hilty) and many more.

Photo: Michael Maliakel, Megan Hilty, and Luke Hawkins.Credit: Elman Studio.

Special Coverage of the Inauguration of Donald J. Trump • WXXI-TV and WXXI News

WXXI brings you live coverage of Inauguration Day 2025.

On Monday, January 20th PBS News coverage begins at 10:30 a.m. on WXXI-TV and NPR coverage begins at 11 a.m. on WXXI News.

PBS News coverage will be co-anchored by Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett, with reporting from PBS News Hour White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López at the White House, Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins at the Capitol, and senior correspondent Judy Woodruff. Analysis will be provided by editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report Amy Walter, Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart and New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks.

NPR will provide live, anchored Special Coverage of the ceremonies on WXXI News (FM 105.9 and WXXINews.org).

Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan “Judy Woodruff” • WXXI-TV

Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff reflects on her perspectives on the changing American political landscape and raising a child with spina bifida.

Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan “Judy Woodruff” airs Friday, January 17 at 8:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI app.

For five decades, Judy Woodruff has delivered exceptional coverage of politics to the American public. In this episode, she reflects on her career highlights, her perspectives on the changing American political landscape, and raising a child with spina bifida.

This program is presented as part of Dialogue on Disability, a partnership between WXXI and Al Sigl Community of Agencies – in conjunction with the Herman and Margaret Schwartz Community Series. Dialogue on Disability is supported by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation with additional support from The Golisano Foundation. The weeklong initiative runs January 13-19, 2025

WXXI and Al Sigl have been hosting Dialogue on Disability since 2005. In 2014, with the support of businessman and philanthropist Tom Golisano and the Golisano Foundation, Move to Include™ was formed. This initiative enables WXXI to present and develop programming that promotes inclusion year round.