Beyond the Blue Ridge
Beyond the Blue Ridge
Saturday
Jan 11, 2025
7:30 PM
Sunday
Jan 12, 2025
3:00 PM
Winston-Salem Symphony
Mark & Maggie O’Connor Violins
Michelle Merrill Conductor
Elmer Bernstein
The Magnificent Seven
Aaron Copland
Billy The Kid
Mark O’Connor
Strings & Threads Suite
Mark O’Connor
Double Violin Concerto
The American West is full of stories. Hear the exciting, cowboy-inspired sounds of Elmer Bernstein’s Hollywood score to The Magnificent Seven and Aaron Copland’s old-west ballet, Billy The Kid. You’ll also be mesmerized by GRAMMY®-winning violinists Mark & Maggie O’Connor, who bring bluegrass flash to Mark’s contemporary classical works for two violins.
Look west, and Experience Music in a New Way.
Pre-Concert Talk
Saturday at 6:30 PM | Sunday at 2:00 PM
All audience members are invited to join us in the Judy Voss Jones Fine Arts Center, directly behind Reynolds Auditorium on its west side, for a lively discussion about the music and surrounding context. Local musicologist Dr. Carol Reynolds is your guide—pre-concert talks are free to attend, and occur one hour before any Classics Series concert.
Single tickets to this event go on sale August 1, but you can save your seat with a subscription!
Saturday
Nov 16
7:30 PM
Sunday
Nov 17
3:00 PM
Venue
Reynolds Auditorium
301 N. Hawthorne Rd.
Winston-Salem, NC 27104
Rideshare and Dining
What will my view be like?
While Reynolds Auditorium’s sightlines and sound are best enjoyed in the Mezzanine, Orchestra-level seating also offers superb viewing and sound, especially in rows F through O. Please bear in mind that Reynolds Auditorium is a historic venue; there is no elevator, thus the Mezzanine and Balcony levels are only accessed via stairs. Accessible seating is available on the Orchestra level at the rear of the house and along the outside left and right.
Mark & Maggie O’Connor
Mark and Maggie have been existing in an uninterrupted musical collaboration since the day they met eight 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.
Michelle Merrill, conductor
WSS Music Director Michelle Merrill served four years as the Assistant and then Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and also serves as the Music Director of the Coastal Symphony of Georgia, where she has ignited the growth and expansion of the orchestra’s offerings both on and off the stage. Ms. Merrill is a proud recipient of a 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award as well as the prestigious 2013 Ansbacher Conducting Fellowship as awarded by members of the Vienna Philharmonic and the American Austrian Foundation, which enabled her to be in residence at the world-renowned Salzburg Festival.
Related Events
Music Lovers’ Luncheon
Friday, Jan 10 at Noon
Forsyth Country Club
3101 Country Club Rd., Winston-Salem
Enjoy lunch with a side of interesting conversation! Michelle Merrill talks about the two opening works of the concert, then joins guest violinists Mark and Maggie O’Connor to discuss their careers and music.
