“A Night of Georgia Music,” recorded for public television at Macon’s historic Grand Opera House in front of a sold-out live audience, has been nominated for three Southeast Regional Emmy Awards.
The performance dynamically showcases some of the Peach State’s most iconic songs, headlined by three of Georgia’s most well-known musicians. Set to a rock band and orchestra conducted by Ward Stare, the program features R.E.M. founding member and Macon native Mike Mills; students from Mercer University’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings and its founder, internationally renowned violin soloist and Macon native Robert McDuffie; and former Allman Brothers Band member and current Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell.
“A Night of Georgia Music” includes songs composed or performed by Georgia’s favorite contemporary artists, including Otis Redding, Ray Charles, the Allman Brothers Band, R.E.M., Outkast, The B-52s and James Brown. The concert, filmed in March 2022, also incorporates elements from the Mills-composed “Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and String Orchestra.” Arrangements were provided by award-winning composer David Mallamud.
The concert was filmed and edited by multiple Emmy Award-winner 7 Cinematics, which has previously produced live concerts for PBS and other national networks, including The Avett Brothers at Red Rocks and the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Great Pyramids. In addition to taping at The Grand, one segment for the show was shot in Macon’s historic Capricorn Sound Studios, restored by Mercer in 2019.
The show was nominated in three categories: arts/entertainment-long form content, with Mills, McDuffie, Leavell and Mercer Senior Vice President for Marketing Communications Larry Brumley named as producers; musical composition/arrangement, with Mallamud, Mills and Leavell named as composers; and lighting, with Peter Schroth named as lighting director. Georgia Public Broadcasting is named on all three nominations as the presenting station.
Award winners will be announced at the 49th Annual Southeast Emmy Awards gala, which will take place on June 17 at the Grand Hyatt in Atlanta.
“A Night of Georgia Music” premiered on Georgia Public Broadcasting on July 4, 2022, and is being distributed to public television stations nationally by American Public Television. It already has been aired, or scheduled to air, in almost 50% of the country’s public television markets. It also is now available to stream online in both an hourlong version and the full performance.
Major funding for “A Night of Georgia Music” was provided by The Peyton Anderson Foundation and the W. Mansfield Jennings Jr. Charitable Trust. Additional funding was provided by the Knight Foundation Fund at the Community Foundation of Central Georgia.
