A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media

Special Guests
Saturday, October 14, 2006

Steven Copes with pianist John Novacek

Violinist Steven Copes grew up in L.A. Now he's traded endless summer for a position as concertmaster of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute and The Julliard School. He co-founded the Alpenglow Chamber Music Festival in Colorado and has performed at festivals and series such as Aspen, Boston Chamber Music Society, Caramoor, Cello Plus, Colorado College, El Paso Pro Musica, Marlboro, Music in the Vineyards, Piccolo Spoleto, San Luis Obispo, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Skaneateles, and abroad in Australia, Costa Rica, France, Japan and New Zealand. He has also served as guest concertmaster with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and London Philharmonic under conductors Masur, Tilson Thomas, Temirkanov and Perlman. Pianist John Novacek has played solo recitals and concerts around the globe. His own compositions and arrangements have been performed by the Pacific Symphony, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Fresno Ballet, Harrington String Quartet, Diana Ross, Kiri Te Kanawa and others.

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, ethnomusicologist, recipient of two Grammys, world-class musical collaborator, winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the BBC, world traveler and fisherman (his annual Fishin' Blues Tournament benefits the Music Maker Relief Foundation). Makes you tired just thinking about all that. Born Henry St. Claire Fredericks in New York City and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, his interest in the blues began at the University of Massachusetts in the early '60s. By the time he graduated (with a B.A. in Agriculture), he had learned to play bass, piano, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, harmonica and assorted flutes. Henry St. Claire Fredericks had also transformed himself into Taj Mahal. Since then he's recorded more than three dozen of his own albums, and he's performed on numerous others. Recent CDs include Martin Scorsese Presents Taj Mahal and Hanapepe Dream.

John Niemann

After playing electric bass in a high school rock 'n' roll band, fiddler and mandolinist John Niemann took up guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and mandocello. He was a member of Peter Ostroushko's quartet The Mando Boys, and he spent seven years with the bluegrass group Stoney Lonesome.