A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Peter Johnson

Peter Johnson (percussion) has played klezmer music with Doc Severinsen and jazz with Dave Brubeck. He was a drummer for The Manhattan Transfer and for Gene Pitney. He has toured the world, but he always comes back to home base: Saint Paul.

Andy Stein

Andy Stein (violin, saxophone) definitely has far-flung musical leanings. He collaborated with Garrison Keillor to create the opera Mr. and Mrs. Olson, and he has performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan

Soloists from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music

California-born Esther Kim is one of the country's most promising young violinists. She has won the Prix du President at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists and the Bronislaw Kaper Award presented by the L.A. Philharmonic. Her pianist is Charles H. Webb, Dean Emeritus of the Jacobs School of Music.

Pianist Ignasi Cambra is from Barcelona, Spain. He has won numerous international piano solo and chamber music competitions and has performed with several major orchestras in his home country. This past December, he played at the United Nations and Carnegie Hall.

Baritone Aleksey Bogdanov made his debut with IU Opera Theater last season as Abbate Cospicuo in Busoni's Arlecchino. And he will be heard again later this semester in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann. Bogdanov is a native of Odessa, Ukraine. His pianist is Piotr Wisniewski.

Indiana University Violin Virtuosi

The Indiana University Violin Virtuosi, under the direction of Mimi Zweig and Brenda Brenner, are young musicians between the ages of 13 and 18. They perform as an ensemble and as soloists, playing the music of Bach, Brahms, Bartok, Kreisler, Prokofiev, Vivaldi, Shostakovich, Sibelius and Telemann, as well as many compositions written especially for the group. The performers are gifted students who study at the Indiana University String Academy. Over the past few years, the Virtuosi have toured France, Japan, Sweden, Spain and Italy, and they have been featured on the NPR program From the Top. The Emmy-nominated documentary Circling Around — The Violin Virtuosi has been aired throughout the country on public television. The musicians are: Brian Allen, Alex Ayers, Sangwoo Kim, Richard Lidell, Ren Martin-Doike, Zoe Martin-Doike, Seung-Mi Sun, Daniel Wunderle and Stephanie Zyzak.

String Players from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music

Violins: Liesl Schoenberger, Jacob Ashworth, William Shackelton, Sho Neriki, Nicholas Drumm, Mallory Hamm, Sara Barlowe, Alison Stewart, Colleen Wang. Violas: Matthew Maffett, Sheldon Person, Sarah Billing. Cellos: Thomas Ems, Christina Stripling.