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Put the down-home back in your holiday with the country flavor of Mark O’Connor’s An Appalachian Christmas, Wednesday, December 11, at 7 p.m., at the Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center on Yavapai College’s Prescott Campus.

A winner of three Grammys and seven Country Music Association awards, as well as multiple national fiddle, guitar, and mandolin titles, Mark O’Connor is a leading performer and educator in contemporary and classical string music. He began his creative journey at the feet of American fiddling legend Benny Thomasson and iconic French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli.

As an Appalachian-born violin prodigy, Mark O’Connor cherished the Christmas holidays because it gave him a chance to stay home and jam with local musicians, performing traditional Christmas music and folk tunes that celebrated the simple life they all shared.

In his teens, O’Connor performed for President Reagan at the White House. Over time, he melded his diverse influences into a new American classical music, continuing his vision of an American School of String Playing.

“Mark O’Connor’s unfinished trajectory, from largely self-taught fiddle player to concert-hall virtuoso and classical composer, is already one of the most spectacular journeys in recent American music.” – New York Times

An Appalachian Christmas features O’Connor, alongside his wife and award-winning fiddler Maggie O’Connor, delivering fresh arrangements of Christmas classics—both vocal and instrumental. It also features moving songs that vividly recall O’Connor’s life and childhood in Appalachia.

“Mark is so facile with his instrument and so completely on top of it. He’s really one in a million. We won’t see a lot more like him in this generation.” – James Taylor

In addition to a holiday concert with the performer whom Vince Gill called “the best musician on the planet,” the Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center will host an after-show Dessert Social with Mark and Maggie O’Connor.

Tickets for An Appalachian Christmas start at $39. The Post-Performance Dessert Social is $15 per person. The Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center is located on the Yavapai College Prescott Campus, 1100 E. Sheldon Street, in Prescott.

For reservations or more information, please contact The J&LLPAC Ticket Office, open Tuesday – Wednesday from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.; and Thursday – Friday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. For more information, please call: (928) 776-2000.

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