 Peter Ostroushko
He grew up in a musical community,
Ukrainian Northeast Minneapolis as it used to be called, and he learned
to play a number of instruments early on. He was hired in high school
to compose and play the music for a one-man staging of A Christmas
Carol, at the Children's Theater School. In the thirty years since that
beginning he has been sideman to and traveled with the very famous,
been a session player on three or four hundred CDs, has written and
produced nine of his own albums and has composed works performed by the
St Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Sinfonia, the Kremlin Chamber
Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of both Rochester and Des
Moines. He's written film scores for Ken Burns' documentaries Lewis
& Clark and Mark Twain and has just completed a new soundtrack,
released on Red House, for Minnesota: A History of the Land which will
be broadcast February 21and 22 . He is a musician's musician and has a
press kit filled with superlatives; everything from "solemn grace" and
"joyfully funky" to "breathtaking, technically brilliant music." But
Jethro Burns put it best when he said: "Go out of your way to see
Pete."
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 Julie Amacher
Julie Amacher's desire to introduce others to great music is what led her to radio. She began her professional broadcast career at a station in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. She went from rock 'n' roll to the Rocky Mountains, where she found her niche in public radio at KUNC in Greeley, Colo. Julie spent 13 years at KUNC, where she managed the announcers and their eclectic music format. During that time, she earned four national awards for best announcer. She joined American Public Media's Classical 24 in 1997. Julie also hosted Heartland Holiday with Peter Ostroushko last year.
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| Among the many musicians joining Peter Ostroushko are two more A Prairie Home Companion regulars: pianist Dan Chouinard, and singer Ruth MacKenzie. The Dreaded Nowytski Sisters (Natlalie and Olenka) team up with MacKenzie, to create great harmonies on several holiday carols. |
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