‘National icon’ comes to Auditorium

“Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where the women are strong, the men are good-looking and the children are above average.” \nNow in its 32nd year on the radio, Garrison Keillor’s matchless program, “A Prairie Home Companion,” will bring the fictitious small town of Lake Wobegon, Minn., to the IU Auditorium at 5:45 p.m. Saturday. The two-hour show will be broadcast live from the auditorium.\nIt features mainly folk-type music – \nbluegrass, gospel, jazz and blues – as well as some classical, interspersed with comedy sketches such as Keillor’s original character “Guy Noir, Private Eye” and “The Lives of Cowboys,” which features rugged, stereotypical Dusty (voiced by actor Tim Russell) and his sensitive counterpart Lefty (voiced by Keillor).\nAbout an hour and a half in, Keillor gives his signature feature “News from Lake Wobegon” before the show ends with a final musical act. \nInterwoven throughout are commercials from fake sponsors, such as the Ketchup Advisory Board and Professional Organization of English Majors.\nWhile the show is based at Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn., Keillor and his cast travel around the country and abroad, incorporating local acts and humor into the performances. The show’s popularity has also spawned dozens of books – \nmany written by Keillor himself – and a 2006 movie with a cast that included Kevin Kline, Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan, as well as Keillor playing himself.\nWFIU station manager Christina Kuzmych said “there’s a real magic” in seeing the show in person. \n“Prairie Home Companion is a national icon. It’s the best public radio has to offer,” she said. “It is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for people to be able to see it.”\nThis particular performance will feature music from professor Mimi Zweig’s Violin Virtuosi, as well as pianist Ignasi Cambra, violinist Esther Kim and vocalist Aleksey Bogdanov. A pit orchestra comprised of Jacobs School of Music students will also be present.\nThe Jacobs String Academy and the Violin Virtuosi, which are programs for performers under 18, will play several classical pieces in Saturday’s show. Among them are Fritz Kreisler’s “Praeludium and Allegro,” Felix Mendelssohn’s “On Wings of Song,” Johannes Brahms’s “Hungarian Dance No. 8 in A Minor” and Bela Bartok’s “Sonatina for Three Violins.”\nSisters Ren and Zoë Martin-Doike, 16 and 18 years old, respectively, will play in the show. Both have been playing the violin for more than a decade and have listened to “A Prairie Home Companion” even longer.\n“We’ve been listening to it probably since before we were born,” Ren Martin-Doike said. “I haven’t been able to get nervous because I’m so excited.” \nOther Virtuosi members who will be performing are Alex Ayers, Brian Allen, Seung Mi Sun, Sangwoo Kim, Stephanie Zyzak, Daniel Wunderle and Richard Lidell.\nViolinist Kim, who is in her second year of earning an artist’s diploma from the Jacobs School, will be performing Pablo Sarasate’s “Zapateado,” among other pieces.\n“They decide last minute,” she said. “You never know what you’ll be playing.”\nKim will be accompanied on piano by Jacobs School Dean Emeritus Charles H. Webb.\nBaritone singer Bogdanov is a second-year Master’s student who plans to perform “Credo in un Dio Crudel” from Giuseppe Verdi’s “Otello” in Italian and Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “None But the Lonely Heart” in Russian.\nBogdanov, who earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the University of California Santa Cruz, added that he has friends and family across the country who listen to the show.\nBogdanov also said that in the Musical Arts Center, the audience is a few thousand, but “with Prairie Home, you’re talking about millions and millions of people.” \nCambra is a bachelor’s student in piano and 2007-08 Jacobs Scholar. He has won multiple international awards and has played with major orchestras in his home country of Spain.\n“It’ll be a truly remarkable experience,” IU Auditorium Director Doug Booher said. “It’s a great escape for the audience.”