WS Chronicle

Prepare to be transported to the rugged landscapes of the American West with “Beyond the Blue Ridge,” the next concert in the Winston-Salem Symphony’s 2024/25 season, performing Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 11 & 12 at Reynolds Auditorium.

Grammy Award winning musicians Mark and Maggie O’Connor join Music Director Michelle Merrill and the Symphony for these performances of three Western-themed pieces. Elmer Bernstein’s stirring themes from “The Magnificent Seven” evoke the spirit of frontier justice with their heroic brass fanfares and sweeping orchestral textures, setting the stage for Aaron Copland’s “Billy the Kid” ballet score, which paints a vivid portrait of a legendary outlaw through its expansive melodies and folk-inspired rhythms. Finally, Mark O’Connor’s “Strings & Threads” suite and his “Double Violin Concerto” add a contemporary twist with their blends of classical tradition and American folk fiddling, featuring virtuosic solos that bridge the gap between classical and bluegrass styles.

“Beyond the Blue Ridge” will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 11 and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 12 in Reynolds Auditorium, 301 N. Hawthorne Road. Tickets start at $29 and can be purchased online at wssymphony.org or by calling the box office at 336-464-0145.

About Mark and Maggie O’Connor

Mark and Maggie have been existing in an uninterrupted musical collaboration since the day they met ten years ago in 2014. As they were perfecting the finer points of Mark’s American Classical violin duos, it got so good that they decided to get married. The next stage of their musical journey turned into a larger family collaboration for which they each took home a Grammy for playing bluegrass in the O’Connor Band. 

Now, they have turned yet another musical corner. With a year-and-a-half of isolation from touring during the world-wide pandemic, they dedicated their days and nights toward further musical growth together. The couple workshopped new songs during 70 weekly online concerts from home: Mondays with Mark and Maggie. A group of dedicated viewers watched as they made their musical experiments, some fans tuning in for all of them. What came out of this exploration is an Americana album project of mostly original vocal songs they sing together, other popular songs reimagined, and all of them supported by a small universe of acoustic instruments they’ve brushed up on in the time off the road.

About the Winston-Salem Symphony

Proud to be one of the Southeast’s most highly regarded regional orchestras, the Winston-Salem Symphony premiered in 1947. Today, under the direction of Music Director Michelle Merrill, the Symphony fulfills its mission to “Bring Music to Life” by inspiring listeners of all ages throughout North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad with various concerts, education programs, and community engagement initiatives each year. Visit wssymphony.org for more information.