Tickets go on sale tomorrow for Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion at St. Olaf College's Skoglund Center Auditorium, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011
Contact:
David O'Neill
Prairie Home Productions
Phone: 651-999-1092
E-mail: davido@prairiehome.us
David Gonnerman
St. Olaf College
Phone: 507-786-3315
E-mail: gonnermd@stolaf.edu
Tickets go on sale tomorrow for Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion at St. Olaf College's Skoglund Center Auditorium, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011
St. Olaf Choir and St. Olaf Orchestra to be featured musical guests during national broadcast
Northfield, Minn. — The St. Olaf Choir, St. Olaf Orchestra and Garrison Keillor will reunite on the campus of St. Olaf College Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, for a live national broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion from Skoglund Center Auditorium. Actress Sue Scott and Tim Russell (the man of many voices) will be on hand, as will Prairie Home's sound-effects wizard Tom Keith for the 4:45 p.m. show. Anton Armstrong will conduct the St. Olaf Choir and Steven Amundson the St. Olaf Orchestra.
Tickets for reserved seating are $40 and go on sale 9 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, at stolaftickets.com.
It will be exactly ten years to the weekend that Garrison Keillor first presented APHC on the campus of St. Olaf College. (The recording "Highlights from Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion" from Nov. 17, 2001, is available through stolafrecords.com.) Last year Keillor invited the Women's Vocal Ensemble of the St. Olaf Choir to perform with him in a special live cinecast of APHC, and last spring he recorded a five-minute tribute video with the same young women to honor the St. Olaf Choir during its Centennial Reunion Banquet in June.
Now in its 38th season, A Prairie Home Companion is heard by some 4 million listeners on nearly 600 public radio stations nationwide, as well as on XM Radio, the Armed Forces Network Europe, the Far East Network, and in dozens of European cities via the Astra satellite network. The program is produced by Prairie Home Productions and presented by American Public Media. The show is sponsored nationally by Ford Motor Company. Audio clips, scripts, and more information on A Prairie Home Companion can be found online at prairiehome.org.
Host of public radio programs A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac, Garrison Keillor is also the author of numerous books, including Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance (Viking), and the editor of several anthologies of poetry, most recently Good Poems: American Places (Viking).
The St. Olaf Choir, with 75 mixed voices, is the pioneer a cappella choir in the United States. Celebrating its centennial this year, the St. Olaf Choir has set a standard of choral excellence and remained at the forefront of choral artistry. Conducted since 1990 by Anton Armstrong, the St. Olaf Choir continues to develop the tradition that originated with its founder, F. Melius Christiansen.
The 92-member St. Olaf Orchestra under the direction of Steven Amdundson is among St. Olaf College's premier ensembles. Richard Ostling of Time magazine said, "I've always known about the great St. Olaf Choir, but when I tuned into the St. Olaf Christmas Festival (on National Public Television) I was astonished by the music of the St. Olaf Orchestra. It has to be one of the best college orchestras in the nation."
More than 600 St. Olaf College Muisicians, including the St. Olaf Choir and St. Olaf Orchestra, will perform in the 100th St. Olaf Christmas Festival "Rejoice, Give Thanks, and Sing" at Skoglund Center Auditorium Thursday through Sunday, Dec. 1 through 4. The Sunday afternoon performance will simulcast live to movie theaters across the nation. PBS will air a new one-hour Christmas special, "Rejoice, Give Thanks, and Sing," as part of this year's holiday programming, and Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) will present a live broadcast of the 2011 St. Olaf Christmas Festival.
Founded in 1874, St. Olaf is a liberal arts college of the church in the Lutheran tradition (ELCA). Committed to the liberal arts and incorporating a global perspective, St. Olaf fosters the development of the whole person in mind, body, and spirit.
WHAT: A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor
WHERE: Skoglund Center Auditorium, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
WHEN: 4:45 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011
WHO: Garrison Keillor, the St. Olaf Choir & Conductor Anton Armstrong, the St. Olaf Orchestra and Conductor Steven Amundson, the Royal Academy of Radio Actors — Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and sound-effects wizard Tom Keith, — and more
TICKETS: Tickets for reserved seating are $40 and available online at stolaftickets.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Go to prairiehome.org, or contact David O'Neill at davido@prairiehome.us.