Ravinia today announced what is expected to be the final live broadcast from the festival of the popular American Public Media radio show A Prairie Home Companion hosted by Garrison Keillor at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, June 11.
The first live broadcast from Ravinia occurred in 2004, and the show has returned every year since, along with such special guests as Ravinia favorites soprano Nicole Cabell and violinist Rachel Barton Pine and Chicago’s own Howard Levy, as well as show regulars bandleader Richard Dworsky and voice actors Tim Russell, Sue Scott and Fred Newman and their cavalcade of characters, including the popular P.I. Guy Noir. Keillor announced last summer that he would retire as regular host of the show he created and turn over the microphone to singer and mandolinist Chris Thile, a 2012 MacArthur Fellow.
“I am so proud to have brought Garrison’s live show to Ravinia back in our centennial season, 2004, and every year since,” said Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman, who books the festival’s programs. “Of course I knew Garrison from the radio, but my real connection was contracting the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for a couple broadcasts back in the early ’90s when I worked in the Twin Cities. Garrison’s storytelling is aptly compared to such greats as Will Rogers, but it’s also his musical curatorship of his show that provides such warmth and humor to Prairie Home—he will be missed.”
Tickets for this concert and our 2016 season begin on April 26.
Donors can request tickets as early as March 9.
Relive The Last 3 Live Broadcasts From Ravinia
Most of Prairie Home's radio shows can be viewed on the official website complete with photos, scripts and other goodies.