Mark O'Connor

Wikipedia:

Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961 in Seattle, Washington) is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition. As a teenager he won national string instrument championships for his virtuoso playing of the guitar and mandolin as well as on the fiddle. His mentors include Texas old-time fiddler Benny Thomasson who taught O'Connor to fiddle as a teenager, French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli whom O'Connor toured as a teenager and guitarist Chet Atkins.

Early life

At an early age Mark O'Connor was considered a child prodigy winning national titles on the fiddle, guitar and mandolin as a teenager. In 1975 at age thirteen, O'Connor won the prestigious Grand Masters Fiddle Championships in Nashville against amateur and professional competitors of all ages. Later that year in 1975, after turning to age 14, he accomplished the same feat on acoustic guitar at the National Flatpick Guitar Championships in Winfield, KS. At age 19, he won the Buck White International Mandolin Championship in Kerrville, TX. He is a four-time grand champion at the National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest in Weiser, Idaho —1979, 1980, 1981 and 1984.

Musical career

He has recorded solo albums for Rounder, Warner Bros. Records, Sony, and his own CD line OMAC Records.

O'Connor has won two Grammy awards; one for his New Nashville Cats album and another for his Appalachian Journey album he did with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer. He was named Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association six years in a row (from 1991 to 1996). His collaborative single Restless (with Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs and Steve Wariner) won the 1991 CMA Vocal Event of the Year award.

O'Connor has crossed musical genres, composing, arranging, and recording folk, classical and jazz music. His Fiddle Concerto has received over 200 performances making it one of the most performed concertos written in the last 40 years. He has composed eight concertos, string quartets, string trios, choral works, solo unaccompanied works and a new Symphony (See Compositions) . He has worked and recorded with a wide variety of artists, such as Chet Atkins, James Taylor, Michelle Shocked, Alison Krauss, David Grisman, Tony Rice, Bela Fleck, Renée Fleming, Pinchas Zukerman, Stéphane Grappelli, Patty Loveless, The Dixie Dregs, John Hartford and Wynton Marsalis. Some of his more recent albums are or contain tributes to his musical mentors and inspirations, including Niccolò Paganini, Benny Thomasson, and Grappelli.

He has contributed music to the PBS Series Liberty! The American Revolution (the companion album is Liberty!). He recorded his "Fanfare For The Volunteer" with the London Philharmonic in 1999 for Sony Classical, and one of his most critically acclaimed orchestral pieces Americans Seasons for Sony Classical 2 as well. O'Connor recorded a 2½ hour double CD of his music with the mandolinist Chris Thile entitled Thirty-Year Retrospective. It celebrates his thirty years as a recording artist on his own OMAC label. He also provided the soundtrack to a 30-minute animated film on the story of Johnny Appleseed (and released the music on his 1992 album Johnny Appleseed), narrated by Garrison Keillor, He contributed four tracks to a 1993 album on the theme of The Night Before Christmas narrated by Meryl Streep that was recently reissued for Starbucks. One of his most popular compositions, Appalachia Waltz (appearing on the album of the same title), has been adopted by Yo-Yo Ma as part of his live performance repertoire, and used frequently as music for weddings including two of Vice President Al Gore's daughters. O'Connor hosts an annual fiddle camp (the Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp) in Tennessee and an annual Strings Conference in San Diego, California. O'Connor is living in New York City working on new music. One of his recent efforts is his piano trio entitled Poets and Prophets which is inspired by his boyhood hero Johnny Cash. Currently O'Connor and Rosanne Cash have teamed up for concert dates premiering their collaboration in New York at Merkin Hall, January 2007. He plays on Ken Burns' The War.

On April 28, 2009, O'Connor teamed with prominent chamber musicians Kavafian, Neubauer and Haimovitz to present his second and third string quartets, amalgamating bluegrass with classical styles, at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. A recording by the same artists is to be released on O'Connor's OMAC label during May.

O'Connor Method

On November 16, 2009, Mark O'Connor released books 1 and 2 of his 10-book O'Connor Method - A New American School of String Playing for string teachers and students of the violin designed to "guide students gradually through the development of pedagogical and musical techniques necessary to become a proficient, well-rounded musician through a carefully planned succession of pieces." Pieces cover a wide range of genres, and include: folk melodies such as "Amazing Grace," "Cielito Lindo" and "Buffalo Gals," American Classical tunes such as Copland's "Hoedown," two themes from Dvorak's New World Symphony, and O'Connor's "Appalachia Waltz." The series also contains short essays about topics including famous American fiddlers such as Thomas Jefferson and Davy Crockett, the history of Gypsies and Mariachi, and various dances. Teacher training sessions based on the method take place around the country.

Awards/honors

2 Grammy awards; 1992 & 2001. 8 Grammy nominations; 1982–2004. 7 CMA awards; 1991–1996. 7 National & Grand Master fiddling championships; 1975–1984. 2 National Guitar championships; 1975 & 1977. World mandolin championship; 1982. Frets Magazine Readers Poll Musician of the year; 1983–1987. Irish-American Top 100; 2005. Hundreds of regional, state and local awards; 1972–present.

Compositions

Orchestral - Full Orchestra

Queen Anne's Revenge - overture for symphony orchestra - 7 min

The Improvised Violin Concerto for violin and orchestra - 40 min

Olympic Harvest - overture for symphony orchestra - 6 min

Americana Symphony "Variations on Appalachia Waltz" for symphony orchestra - 34 min

Triple Concerto "March of the Gypsy Fiddler" for violin, cello, piano and orchestra - 26 min

Double Concerto "For the Heroes" for violin, cello and symphony orchestra - 35 min

Concerto No. 6 "Old Brass" for violin and orchestra - 35 min

Double Violin Concerto for two violins and symphony orchestra - 32 min

Three Pieces for Orchestra for symphony orchestra:

I. Call of the Mockingbird - 20 min

II. Trail of Tears - 16 min

III. Fanfare for the Volunteer - 20 min

Johnny Appleseed Suite - 18 min

The Fiddle Concerto for violin and orchestra - 40 min

Orchestral - String Orchestra

Elevations for string orchestra - 25 min

The Fallen for flute and string orchestra - 20 min

Harmony for violin and string orchestra - 11 min

American Seasons (Seasons of an American Life) for violin and orchestra - 35 min

Surrender The Sword for violin and string orchestra - 10 min

Song Of The Liberty Bell for violin and string orchestra - 7 min

String Quartets

Piano Trio

Piano Trio No. 2 "Strange Rims" - 25 min

Piano Trio No. 1 "Poets And Prophets" - 35 min

Fiddle Sonata for Piano Trio - 20 min

Miniatures for Piano Trio - 5 min

String Trio

In The Summertime - 7 min Musicopia - 7 min Blackberry Mull - 9 min Poem - 7 min Vistas - 10 min Caprice For Three - 4 min Butterfly’s Day Out - 5 min Misty Moonlight Waltz - 4 min Emily’s Reel - 5 min Old Country Fairy Tale - 9 min

Duo

Strings & Threads Suite for violin and guitar - 18 min When Bidden To The Wake Or Fair for violin and cello - 5 min Brave Wolfe for trumpet and violin - 5 min F.C.'s Jig - for violin and cello - 4 min

Solo

Appalachia Waltz (violin/cello) - 7 min Caprices No.'s 1 - 6 - 24 min Strings & Threads Suite for violin - 17 min Bonaparte's Retreat Variations - 7 min

Jazz Ensemble

Anniversary, M&W Rag, Stephane and Django, Fiddler Going Home, Gypsy Fantastic, Funky Swing, In The Cluster Blues, Pickles On The Elbow, Swingin’ On The Ville, Sweet Suzanne, In Full Swing.

Miscellaneous Instrumentals (Fiddle/Bluegrass/Newgrass/Contemporary)

A Bowl of Bula, Across the Ohio Frontier, Beserkley, Bow Tie, Captain's Jig, Cat in the Bag, Changing the Guard, Come Ride With Me, Conversation with a Friend, Cool Winds, Cotton Pickin' Blues, Court Suite, Dance of the Ol' Swamp Rat, Disco Fiddle, Rampsody, Druid Fluid, Ease with the Breeze, Fair Dancer Reel, False Dawn, Fancy Stops and Goes, Flailing, Flight Home, Floating Bridge of Dreams, Fluid Drive, Folktunes, Follow the Scout, From Panama to El Pichincha, Future Man, Get Set, Go, Granny White Special, Hear the Sun Shadows Dance, Hot Tamale, Idle Rain, Improvisations Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, Inns of Granny White, Inside the Stillness, Into the Walls of Mandoness, Irish Maiden, Johnny's Apple Pie, Light the Fire, Macedonia, March of the Pharaohs, Markology, Mark's Ark, Mark's Waltz, Midnight Interlude, My Celebration, Nashville Shuffle Boogie, New Lifetimes, October Impressions, Off to Sea Olympic Reel, On a June Day, One Winter's Night, Pacific Expectations, Pick it Apart, Pickin Parlor Rag, Pickin' in the Wind, Pilgrim's Waltz, Point of Crossing, Queen of the Cumberland, Rampology, Remember Ireland, River Out Back, Road to Appalachia, Rose Among Thorns, Sailor's Jig, Send Rainbows, Shine On, Slopes, Soft Gyrations, Stone from Which the Arch Was Made, Swept Away by Tides, Swing 11:11, Texas Dance Hall Blues, Thai Wat Sai, Thanks and Goodbyes, The Cricket Dance, The Dark Rain, The Emperor's Komponist, The Life and Times of Johnny Appleseed, The Robotic Muso, Three Angel Brides, Through the Lives, Outside the Landscape, Traveler's Ridge, Tubular Explosions, We're Surrounded, When We Talk.

Vocal

Folk Mass for choir - 40 min Let Us Move for choir - 15 min

Composing commissioning organizations

Academy of Saint Martin-In-the-Fields - Library of Congress - Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Commissioning Program - Santa Fe Music Festival - La Jolla Music Festival - Hudson River Quadricentennial Music Project - Gloriae Dei Cantores - Kathryn Gould and Montalvo - Blueridge Parkway 75th Anniversary Appalachian State University - Bridgehampton Chamber Music Associates - Musicians for Harmony (NY) - Troy Savings Bank Hall 2000 Celebration - Tennessee Bicentennial Committee - Cabrillo Music Festival - Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra - Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra - San Diego Symphony Orchestra - East Texas Symphony Orchestra - Nashville Symphony Orchestra - Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Dubuque Symphony Orchestra - Fargo Moorhead Symphony Orchestra - Fox Valley - Symphony Orchestra - Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium - Tennessee Dance Theater - Imperial Symphony Orchestra - Garrett Lakes Arts Festival - Musicopia/Strings in the Schools (Philadelphia)

Education, Training and Research

Violin Apprenticed under jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli; 1979–1980. Apprenticed under folk fiddler Benny Thomasson; 1974–1977. Apprenticed under Barbara Lamb, John Burke; 1973–1974.

Independent Research and Training - Various musical styles and composition including Classical, Flamenco, Bluegrass, Jazz, Western Swing, Appalachian, Cajun, Country, Texas fiddling, Gospel/Spiritual, Blues, Rock, Fusion; 1974–present.

Guitar Edmonds Community College, WA, Calvin Christ, Normando Brenez, Dudley Hill; 1966–1975.

Vocal Instruction and Theory Edmonds Community College, Frank DeMiero; 1976–1977.

Recording Engineering Training Seattle, WA - certificate of completion; 1981.

Keyboard, Theory, Bass and Percussion private teachers, secondary school, WA; 1978-79.

Ensembles - Member and Apprenticed under: Composer and Bandleader David Grisman of the David Grisman Quintet; 1979–1981. Composer and Bandleader Steve Morse of The Dregs; 1981–1982.

Post-Doctoral Training Honorary Doctorate, Sage Colleges, NY, Public Service Degree; 2002.

In 2008/2009 O'Connor was Artist-in-Residence at UCLA and in 2009/2010 he was Artist-in-Residence at the University of Miami.