Event Details
Music Milton is pleased to present Grammy-winning artists Mark and Maggie O’Connor to concertgoers near and afar.
Featuring six-time CMA Musician of the Year and National Fiddler Hall of Famer Mark O’Connor, this festive concert blends Americana, bluegrass, jazz and classical influences with dazzling musicianship and heartfelt holiday spirit. View them performing here.
"The charisma and connection of the two were palpable, and watching them perform together was beautiful." - Leah Hollingsworth, Carnegie Hall concert review
Mark O’Connor’s An Appalachian Christmas album (2011) reached the #1 ranking on Billboard’s Bluegrass Album charts. Hailed by critics from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Los Angeles Times as a top 10 album of the holiday season, it has become a perennial classic Christmas recording.
“All Christmas music should be played so elegantly on violin" -- Boston Globe
About An Appalachian Christmas Concert Tour: Grammy-winning composer and fiddler Mark O’Connor has created several arrangements of Christmas classics and fashions a wondrous mixture of both instrumental and vocal music in bluegrass and other American music genres.
Concertgoers are treated to fresh takes on traditional songs with a few original compositions included. His renditions are playful and joyous, but can be strikingly earnest too.
Mark O’Connor’s Christmas concerts features himself performing on four instruments; fiddle, acoustic guitar, mandolin and mandocello. The shows include his wife and fellow Grammy-winner Maggie O’Connor on fiddle and vocals. Mark and Maggie have performed An Appalachian Christmas together as husband and wife for nearly 10 years, and together they’ve captured it all on their most recent album A Christmas Duo. Much of the year they tour behind their latest recording of original Americana songs and classics, Life After Life. Together on stage, Mark and Maggie have a dynamic energy that bring their individual expertise to holiday themes and classics in the most delightful and musically satisfying way!
O'Connor says, "Appalachia is the original melting pot of our country featuring more diverse styles of American music than just about anywhere. This theme makes for what is a trilogy of my "Appalachia" recordings now; Appalachia Waltz, Appalachian Journey and An Appalachian Christmas. My album features well known carols as well as several Appalachian-themed songs about a beloved hunting dog, passing a fiddle down through the generations, and offering a new version of Appalachia Waltz itself with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, one of my most well-known pieces. A few of my favorite Christmas centerpieces for the album include Renee Fleming’s soprano embraced by a mountain orchestra and fiddle solo on Away In A Manger and Amazing Grace, the jazzy style of Jane Monheit with an all-acoustic string band on Winter Wonderland and The Christmas Song and terrific guest appearances by music legends James Taylor, Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss.”
Mark O’Connor
"One of the most talented and imaginative artists working in music -- any music -- today." - The Los Angeles Times
Mark O'Connor began his creative journey at the feet of American fiddling legend Benny Thomasson, and the iconic French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli. Today, he has melded these influences into a new American classical music, and is perpetuating his vision of an American School of String Playing. Mr. O’Connor has won three Grammys, seven CMA awards and several national fiddle, guitar and mandolin champion titles. Mr. O’Connor has composed nine concertos and two symphonies recorded by the Baltimore Symphony, London Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony among others. O’Connor is well-known for his chamber music including his million-selling composition “Appalachia Waltz” featuring Yo-Yo Ma for the Sony Classical label. His recent album back on his own label OMAC Records is Life After Life, an Americana music collection of his original songs and some classics he sings with his wife Maggie O’Connor who is featured on lead vocals. 2025 sees the release of their new holiday music album, A Christmas Duo – captured live at Sheldon Hall in St. Louis from Mark’s perennial An Appalachian Christmas tour. O’Connor released his memoir a few years ago, Crossing Bridges: My Journey from Child Prodigy to Fiddler Who Dared the World.
Mr. O’Connor has authored a series of educational books called the O’Connor Method and is now the fastest growing violin method in the country. The O’Connor Method features American music styles, creativity, cultural diversity and western classical technical training. For more information, visit www.markoconnor.com.
Maggie O’Connor
American violinist/fiddler and vocalist, Maggie O'Connor performs a variety of musical styles throughout the U.S. and beyond, most recently as a member of the Grammy award-winning bluegrass group, the O'Connor Band.