This annual free concert is back, featuring emerging top students from across the country who came to Macon to learn with distinguished faculty artists.
MACON, Ga. — Mercer University’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings will present a special concert on Sept. 7 at 3 p.m. in Fickling Hall. The Labor Day Festival is a long-standing tradition that includes an intensive, hands-on, three-day workshop limited to eight highly talented high school strings students from across the United States.
The finale of this group of emerging artists is The Labor Day Festival concert, presented free for the Macon and Mercer community. Playing alongside the students will be the McDuffie Center Young Artists.
The rising junior and senior students selected for this year’s Labor Day Festival hail from different states and are already accomplished artists. For example, several of the students have performed at prestigious summer festivals, played with major symphony orchestras around the country, performed on tour, have won national awards and taken time to participate in community service.
The performance will feature modern work, such as contemporary composer Jessie Montgomery’s “Strum,” as well as Samuel Barber’s passionate “Adagio for Strings,” Dvořák’s “American” string quartet and David Diamond’s rugged “Rounds for String Orchestra.” The selections from this program are meant to reflect on the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. The McDuffie Center especially encourages families to attend as an accessible introduction to classical performance for children and teens.
Newly named McDuffie Center Director Emily Brandenburg said, “I’m thrilled that the Labor Day Festival is returning to Fickling Hall this year. We’re honored to welcome eight incredibly talented high school juniors and seniors from as close as Suwanee, Georgia, to as far away as Honolulu, Hawaii.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our nation, our Labor Day participants and our own talented McDuffie Center students.”
The Labor Day Festival will kick off the 2026-27 season for the McDuffie Center, which also includes free Young Artist Concerts at the historic Bell House on College Street, the Fabian Concert Series in Fickling Hall with new Artistic Director Lawrence Dutton and the innovative Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra at The Piedmont Grand Opera House. Purchase tickets and subscriptions online or call the box office at 478-301-5470.
