St. Cloud State University and SCSU’s Department of Music will welcome 300 area students and a Grammy Award-winning musical duo to campus on Jan. 11-13 for a unique multi-day event.
Mark and Maggie O’Connor, a husband and wife musical duo from North Carolina, will come to campus to practice and perform with middle school and high school students in the St. Cloud area during a three-day event hosted by the Central Minnesota Youth Orchestra (CMYO). The event is made possible by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.
SCSU’s Department of Music is a sponsor for the event, which will take place in Ritsche Auditorium on campus. Students attending will take part in workshops and rehearsals with the O’Connors and 100 of them will have the chance to perform with the duo during a performance on Jan. 13. Students taking part in this multi-day event are from the St. Cloud Area Schools, Sartell-St. Stephen, St. John’s Preparatory School, St. Cloud Cathedral and the Central Minnesota Youth Orchestra.
“CMYO and the participating school directors have been hard at work preparing for this event since the Fall of 2022. We are very excited to see all the students working together as one unified sound in this incredible event,” said Michael Zellgert, Artistic Director and Founder of CMYO. “We are grateful to have Dr. Catharine Bushman and the SCSU Music Department assisting us not only in providing a space to perform but also with the setup requirements and details along the way.”
The O’Connors have performed together ever since they met in 2014, playing traditional violin and bluegrass fiddle music. They each took home a Grammy Award for playing bluegrass in the O’Connor Band, now shifting their dedication to furthering musical growth throughout the country.
