The Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra partnered with Mike Mills and Robert McDuffie to perform their concerto of six songs called “Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and String Orchestra” on Nov. 17, 2025.
The concert program explains that Mills and McDuffie are Macon natives and were friends in high school church choir who became successful in separate areas of music after graduating.
McDuffie studied classical violin at the Juilliard School, performed as a soloist and chamber musician in orchestras across several continents and founded the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University, among other achievements.
Mills attended the University of Georgia, where he met the other members of R.E.M. who’s notable achievements together include making 15 albums, going on several tours and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
“We both went off and made our careers and now our careers have sort of combined and we’re having a lot of fun in getting to bring it back home again,” Mills told GPB in 2016, the first time the ensemble performed the concerto in Macon.
McDuffie and Mills reunited for the project, which Mills composed and was arranged with the help of singer David Mallamud. The concerto features two R.E.M. songs “Nightswimming” and “Losing My Religion.”
The pair debuted their concerto at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, which is directed by conductor and Toronto native Peter Oundijian. At Monday’s performance, Oundijian again led Mills and McDuffie in their concerto, this time in the musician’s shared hometown.
The ensemble included Mills playing bass guitar and piano, McDuffie as the violin soloist, two guitar players, a drummer and the Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra. The string ensemble included alumni from Mercer’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings who took part in the original recording of the concerto and current students of the program.
“We’ve never presented Mills’ concerto to our Macon-Mercer Symphony audience,” McDuffie told The Macon Melody. “Because of the matriculation of students at the center, it will be the first time many of our students will get to play it.”
The event was a continuation of an Emmy award-winning project the artists have worked on since 2016 that they recorded, took on tour and performed for a TV production called “A Night of Georgia Music.”
“This is not, strictly speaking, a classical piece and as a result we are not bound by the usual restrictions on behavior in a classical setting, so you are free to express your appreciation at any time and in any manner you so chose,” Mills said before the performance in the Grand Opera House on Monday, encouraging audience members to enjoy themselves in a setting that is usually reserved for austere shows.
Joslyn Hicks ‘29 is a Journalism major at Mercer University. She is excited for her first year as a staff writer for The Cluster. In her free time, you can find her reading a book or singing along to Taylor Swift songs.
