Musicians

Music and the other arts are the most potent demonstration that, in the heart, we are all one community.

~ Jan Swafford

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John O’Connor
musician, poet

In 1983, while living in Seattle, John O’Connor sent a batch of his songs off to Flying Fish Records cold and–almost unheard of in the music business at that time–landed a contract to make an album of his powerful original songs. Songs For Our Times came out in 1984 and was named one of the best albums of the year by the Washington Post and several other papers, folk publications and radio stations.

Almost 40 years later, having traveled the country, touring and working as a union organizer, John has gathered a treasure-trove of songs, stories and poems about the working class, war and peace, love and loss. Craig Harris has said, “…O’Connor has shaped his own acute observations of the working class into songs that beg to be sung along to…” Si Kahn calls his songs “wonderful: direct, simple, singable, powerful.” “Songwriting… right out of the same well that slaked Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger,” commented the St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch.

Geoffrey Himes, in his Washington Post review said of John’s songs, “Mister, Slow It Down,” … is the best hitchhiking song since Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGree.” O’Connor’s “Missy and Me” is the best song about old age since John Prine’s “Hello in There.” “A Cold November,” an a cappella ballad about a poor man harassed by a Chicago cop, echoes Woody Guthrie’s hobo songs.

John’s music has always been inseparable from his involvement in working class politics. He began his involvement in the labor movement right out of high school when he went to work in the factories of Waterloo, Iowa. His passion for American folk music led to a career as a folk singer and a cultural educator, performing in concerts, festivals, coffeehouses, schools and colleges, union education programs and political action events.

John recorded three albums with Flying Fish, one of them with the political quartet, ‘Shays Rebellion’, and a CD on the Chroma label. He also recorded a CD produced in conjunction with Collector Records called “We Ain’t Gonna Give It Back”, which is regarded by many as one of the best collections of original songs on the American labor movement. The late Joe Glazer said of John, “He writes the best songs about labor you are likely to hear.” Britain’s Southern Rag has said that “John O’Connor deserves to be numbered with the all-time greats of contemporary folk music.”

In 2017 John released his first CD in more than 20 years. Upon release, Rare Songs was ranked for several weeks in the top 50 albums on the US folk charts. John McCutcheon wrote, “John O’Connor’s wonderful new album, Rare Songs… is a welcome return of one of our best and most humane songwriters.”
Some 50 years after walking through the gates of his first factory job, John is still stalwart in his focus of fighting for the working class and inspiring them with his music and their music. John’s songs have been recorded by numerous singers from around the world. In 2009, the French topical singer, Renaud, adapted and recorded O’Connor’s song of deindustrialization, North by North, which went to number one on the French charts.

Also an accomplished poet, John has seen his poems published in dozens of literary magazines. He has won the Associated Writer’s Program’s Prague Prize and has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. His book of poems, Half the Truth, won the Violet Reed Haas Poetry Award in 2015.

Kelly Odell
oboe

Kelly Odell - oboe

Kelly has an undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa and a Performance Certificate from the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. She was a winner of the Concerto Competition at the University of Massachusetts, where she received her Master’s degree. She has been on the faculty of Bates College and Georgia Southern University and is presently the oboe instructor at Augusta State University.

Kelly has performed as guest soloist with the Symphony Orchestra Augusta, Pittsfield Symphony, and Savannah Sinfonietta. She has played with the Portland Symphony, Springfield Symphony, Bangor Symphony, Savannah Sinfonietta, Greenville Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, the Pittsfield Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. She has toured Western Europe with the Ricciotti Ensemble, an orchestra dedicated to performing new music.

Kelly performs oboe and english horn with Ensembles Intermezzo, the Lyra Vivace Chamber Orchestra, the Augusta Opera, Augusta Choral Society, the Symphony Orchestra Augusta, and with the Hilton Head Orchestra. She is highly sought after as an expert reed-maker and oboe instructor. She has studied with Ray Still, Carlo Ravelli, Fred Cohen, and Yvonne Powers.

Christine Orio
viola

Christine Orio, viola

Chris performs with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra, Albany Symphony, and is Principal Violist of the Broad Street Orchestra. She has been fortunate to study with esteemed faculty members from some of the best conservatories on the east coast including The Mannes School of Music and The Manhattan School of Music, as well as The Boston Conservatory of Music and Boston University. Her eclectic career as a a free-lance musician includes performances with popular mainstream and rock musicians as well as fiddlers, Broadway legends and world renown classical artists. Rod Stewart, Mark O’Conner, Joshua Bell, Pavarotti and Yo Yo Ma have been some of her favorite on-stage collaborations. In addition to a lifetime dedicated to performing and teaching classical music, Ms. Orio is a certified Yoga instructor and JourneyDanceTM Guide. She finds great freedom of expression not only as a professional performing musician, but also through the art of free movement and dance. Christine is also an avid Cyclist and Spin instructor.

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One thought on “Musicians”

  1. Kate,
    My son is getting married at our home in Evans on October 16, 2021 . It is a small wedding of approximately 130 people, and will be held outdoors. We are beginning to plan the music for the wedding and wanted to incorporate a “String Trio”with violin or viola, cello, and flute. My friend Stan Pylant, recommended that I contact you since you schedule wedding events through “In Praise of Music”. I would appreciate you contacting me so that we could discuss the possibilities of special wedding music.
    Sincerely,
    Jan Key
    706-294-0330

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