Melissa McKinney has always wanted to be on stage at MerleFest, and this year she’s getting her chance. Her five-piece band, Mama & The Ruckus, will be one of eight acts competing in the festival’s annual band contest.

The Winston-Salem Symphony has released the schedule for its 2025-2026 season. Acclaimed musician Ben Folds, a Winston-Salem native, will perform at his…

The complaint filed with the labor board argues that the festival must maintain the status quo as negotiations between the two sides continue. That would include going on with this year’s festival as planned.

Americana artists Mark and Maggie O’Connor are performing with the Winston-Salem Symphony this weekend. The concerts, called “Beyond The Blue Ridge," celebrate the American West.

The dB's first two albums didn’t chart but were well-received by critics. Both their debut “Stands for Decibels” and the follow-up “Repercussion” made the Village Voice 1981 critics poll of the 40 best albums of the year.

Singer, conductor and educator Jamie Allbritten will pass the baton to the next conductor of Piedmont Opera in March 2025. He says it's time for someone new to challenge the musicians in a different way.

Nicholas Edward Williams, a musician and host of the roots music podcast American Songcatcher, says he worried about the potential impact the losses from Helene could have on the next generation.

The festival continues the legacy of High Country musician Doc Watson and his son Merle.

Josh Conyers is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. He also has an incredible personal story. "I come from nothing. Living in shelters, drug abuse, and violence in my childhood home. This is my journey from poverty and strife to thriving as a father, husband, performer, and educator."

icarus Quartet pianist and Wake Forest University assistant professor of music Larry Weng discusses the collaborative process between performers and composers, highlighting the unique aspects of working with living composers like Jennifer Higdon. The Pulitzer Prize-winner then discusses her composition for icarus titled "Turbo Shift," inspired by Béla Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. In her homage to the great Hungarian master, Higdon incorporates prepared piano techniques including hand crafted mutes and wedges for the piano strings that alter the instrument's timbre and mimic the sounds of a busy mechanical workshop, expanding her compositional palette.