As fiddles, guitars, mandolins, and other instruments play Christmas carols, the air fills with festivity and the Appalachian musical spirit. This magic is what can be expected when Mark and Maggie O’Connor take the stage for their “An Appalachian Christmas” performance at the Performing Arts Center on Dec. 5.
“The concept of the show is that Maggie and I invite the audience into our living room around the Christmas tree to hear some old-fashioned spirited American music played on fiddles, guitar, mandolin, mandocello and wooden spoons,” performer Mark O’Connor said.
Mark O’Connor has won three Grammy awards, and his album “An Appalachian Christmas” was #1 in the Billboard Bluegrass charts.
“What is distinctive about the album is that the fiddle itself is the central theme throughout, and with it carries the old-time traditional language of Christmas music going back centuries in the region, but performed today with a contemporary flare,” Mark O’Connor said.
Performing on their “An Appalachian Christmas” tour together has been an annual tradition for 15 years for Mark and Maggie O’Connor. They have enjoyed performing together since the day they met.
“I met Maggie 10 years ago, and it was our two fiddles that brought us together and we’ve been playing ever since,” O’Connor said. “There is a musical chemistry on stage that is undeniable.”
Their next stop is at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center.
“To have the show take place in such a beautiful concert hall as Cal Poly Arts in San Luis Obisbo is the icing on the cake when we do these tours,” O’Connor said. “The sound of our acoustic instruments played in a perfect acoustic environment such as that, well it’s about the best Christmas present a fiddler, guitar player, mandolinist and singer could ever have.”
To experience this Christmas magic onstage, learn more about the event and buy tickets at the PAC website.
