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Special Guests Donald Hall writes poetry and prose. He was born in Hamden, Connecticut, attended Philips Exeter, Harvard University, and Oxford. After graduation from Oxford, Hall was awarded fellowships at Stanford University (1953-54) and at Harvard (1954-57). It was during that time that his first book of poetry, Exiles and Marriages (1955) was published. From 1957 to 1975, he taught at the University of Michigan. In 1975, he and his wife, writer Jane Kenyon, moved to his ancestral farm at Eagle Pond in Wilmot, New Hampshire. His nearly two dozen books of prose include String Too Short To Be Saved (1961), reminiscences of youthful summers spent at Eagle Pond Farm. New Hampshire named Hall its Poet Laureate in 1984, a title he held until 1989. He has been honored with many literary awards and citations, including the Caldecott Medal in 1980 for a children's book, Ox-Cart Man, and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1989 for a book of poetry, The One Day. Hall and Kenyon were the subject of Bill Moyers' public-television program, A Life Together, in 1993. In 1995, Kenyon died of leukemia. Hall's latest book of poetry, The Old Life (Houghton Mifflin), is a collection of four poems: the title poem is an autobiographical account of Hall's life from his earliest childhood memories to Kenyon's death. Hall's most recent juvenile books are When Willard Met Babe Ruth, a story of a 12-year-old boy who meets Babe Ruth, and Old Home Day, which traces the growth of a New Hampshire village from pre-history to the bicentennial of its founding. The Ensemble Singers of the Plymouth Music Series first sang together in 1991, part of the Plymouth Music Series-which, under the direction of world-renowned conductor, choral scholar, and performer Philip Brunelle-has grown over the past 28 years into one of the premier music organizations in Minnesota. The Ensemble Singers are known for innovative exploration of music for voices and instruments. Commissions and world premiere performances have included works of Dominick Argento, Conrad Susa, Eskil Hemberg, Stephen Paulus, Libby Larsen, and David Baker. The Ensemble Singers made their European debut in 1994 and are heard on the Angel, Collins Classics, and RCA labels. Their third Witness recording, Toward the Future, (Collins Classics) was released in March. The Ensemble Singers have been asked to sing this June at the Prague Spring Festival-they are the first U.S. professional chorus invited by the festival. Their performance in Prague is part of their second European tour, which will also include stops at London's Covent Garden Festival, Paris' Foire St. Germain, and Belgium's Flanders Festival. Performing with the Ensemble Singers tonight: soprano: Lisa Habeck, Kathleen Hanson, Barbara Nelson, Ruth Spiegel, Linda Zelig; alto: Suzanne Buenning, Rosita Elhardt, Barbara Kastens, Karen Lovgren Kennedy, Marita J. Link, Patricia Thompson; tenor: Claude Cassagne, David O. Henderson, Thomas Larson, Brian Link, James P. Miller, J. David Moore; bass: Steve Burger, Michael Jorgenson, Brad Runyan, Robert Smith, Frank Steen; pianist: Charles Kemper. Clarinetist/pianist Butch Thompson is well-remembered for his 12-year run as the house pianist on A Prairie Home Companion, dating back to the show's second broadcast in July 1974. In 1978, The Butch Thompson Trio was formed for the show and remained the house band until 1986. As a soloist, Thompson has long been regarded as a leading traditional jazz musician. Thompson's interest in jazz began during his childhood in the river village of Marine-on-St. Croix, Minnesota, where he discovered the piano at age three, began formal study at six, and had an early interest in boogie woogie. As a teenager, he led his first band (Shirt Thompson and his Sleeves), and played his first professional engagements on both piano and clarinet. While an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota in 1962, he joined the Hall Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band on clarinet and began a series of pilgrimages to New Orleans, where he studied with clarinetist George Lewis and became one of the few non-Orleanians to guest occasionally at Preservation Hall during the '60s and '70s. By the early '70s, his recordings on both instruments were noticed abroad, and he toured Europe and Australia. This spring, he toured Egypt, where he performed with the Cairo Symphony and played solo concerts in Cairo and Alexandria. Next month, he will premiere an arrangement of his composition Ecuadorean Memories with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Thompson's first recording, Butch Thompson Plays Jelly Roll Morton Piano Solos, has been re-issued as a Biograph CD. Among his recent recordings is a session featuring trumpeters Doc Cheatham and Nicholas Payton, to be released on the Verve label later this month. Next month, Daring/Rounder Records will release the next recording-called Lincoln Avenue Express-in Thompson's critically acclaimed solo series. Appearing with Thompson tonight are Charlie DeVore (cornet) and Dave Graf (trombone). |
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An Interview with Heather Masse
In a 2009 interview, Heather Masse tells us about her earliest influences, auditioning in a women's bathroom, and a few memorable moments from A Prairie Home Companion.
Old Sweet Songs: A Prairie Home Companion 1974-1976
Lovingly selected from the earliest archives of A Prairie Home Companion, this heirloom collection represents the music from earliest years of the now legendary show: 1974–1976. With songs and tunes from jazz pianist Butch Thompson, mandolin maestro Peter Ostroushko, Dakota Dave Hull and the first house band, The Powdermilk Biscuit Band (Adam Granger, Bob Douglas and Mary DuShane).
