MARK O'CONNOR Biography

Violinist/composer/fiddler Mark O'Connor is widely recognized as one of the most gifted contemporary composers in America and surely one of the brightest talents of his generation.

~~~~~~ The New York Times calls his "one of the most spectacular journeys in recent American music."

TheBaltimore Sun and the St. Louis Post Dispatch label him "genius."

The Los Angeles Times describes him as an artist who is "one of the most talented and imaginative...working in music—any music—today."

The Seattle Times says of his music: "brilliantly original."

His compositions are "informed and engaging," according to the Washington Post.

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An excerpt from a recent feature in The New York Times eloquently describes Mark O'Connor's tradition-filled past, his stellar present and his future full of promise:

"The audience was on its feet. I'm certain that at least some of the concert-goers were moved not merely by Mr. O'Connor's solo, as exciting as it was, but by its having come on the heels of the orchestral piece ("American Seasons"). They were moved by Mr. O'Connor's journey without maps, cheering for the only musician today who can reach so deeply first into the refined, then the vernacular, giving his listeners a complex, sophisticated piece of early-21st-century classical music and then knocking them dead with the brown-dirt whine of a Texas fiddle."

A product of America's rich aural folk tradition, O'Connor's journey began at the feet of violin masters Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson and French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. Along the way, between these two marvelous musical extremes, Mark O'Connor absorbed knowledge and influence from a multitude of musical styles and genres. Now, at age 41, he has melded and shaped these influences into a new American classical music.

The Los Angeles Times warmly noted he has "crossed over so many boundaries, that his style is purely personal."

Yet another facet of O’Connor’s wide-ranging artistry emerges in his latest recording for Sony Classical. Featuring Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing Trio—with O’Connor, guitarist Frank Vignola and bassist Jon Burr—In Full Swing celebrates the jazz legacy of O’Connor’s mentor, violinist Stephane Grappelli, and Grappelli’s legendary collaboration with guitarist Django Reinhardt. Joining the trio as guest artists on the recording—which features such pop standards as “Misty” and “As Time Goes By” as well as original compositions—are trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and singer Jane Monheit. In Full Swing is released internationally in early 2003. The trio will tour the U.S. between January and May of 2003, including an appearance with Marsalis and Monheit with Jazz at Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall on February 4, 2003.

The same night as the Alice Tully Hall performance, O’Connor’s Folk Mass will have its world premiere at St. Thomas Church in New York. The a cappella work was written to commemorate September 11, and it is O’Connor’s second commission from the renowned choral ensemble Gloriae Dei Cantores, which will perform the work that evening.

O’Connor will also be featured as fiddle soloist on the soundtrack of the Warner Bros. Civil War drama Gods and Generals, which Sony Classical will release in February 2003. He can also be heard in the film’s end-credit song “Going Home,” written and performed on the soundtrack by singer/songwriter Mary Fahl.

Mark O’Connor’s first recording for the Sony Classical record label, Appalachia Waltz, was a collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma and double bassist Edgar Meyer. The works O'Connor composed for the disc, including its title track, gained worldwide recognition for him as a leading proponent of a new American musical idiom. The tremendously successful follow-up release, Appalachian Journey, received a Grammy Award in February 2001.

Viewing Mark O'Connor as a direct cultural descendant of America's 18th-century musicians, the producers of the six-part PBS documentary on the American Revolution approached Mark O'Connor to contribute music to their longform work. An album of the music he created, Liberty!, was released on the Sony Classical label in 1997 and features O'Connor's arrangements of a variety of traditional American music and expansive original orchestral works. Both Yo-Yo Ma and Wynton Marsalis appear as guests on the album.

In 2000, composer John Williams also called on his expertise and knowledge of the period to contribute solo instrumentalist talents to the Oscar-nominated score of The Patriot.

Midnight on the Water, a live recording of his solo recital, was released in 1998. It was the album long awaited by legions who have followed O'Connor's 28-year career and is regarded by many as a definitive career work firmly solidified his place as one of America's premier musical artists. The CD includes O'Connor's "Caprices 1-6," increasingly gaining reputation as classic works of the modern violin repertoire. In its review of the disc, Fanfare The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors praised his ability "to dazzle listeners with things both new and personal," noting that "O'Connor's creative effort...deserves special mention and serious discussion, if not special praise."

With more than 150 performances, his Fiddle Concerto No. 1 has become the most-performed modern violin concerto.

Fanfare for the Volunteer, recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Steven Mercurio, was released by Sony Classical in October 1999. At its release, Melinda Bargreen, the Seattle Times' respected classical music critic, described the composition as, "O'Connor's strongest work thus far," calling it "distinctively American and decidedly O'Connor..."

In April 2000, O'Connor premiered his newest orchestral commission, The American Seasons: Seasons of an American Life, at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, N.Y. Commissioned to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the hall's concert series, the New York Times praised the work and O'Connor's performance with the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, describing it as "wholly listenable, buoyed by its jazzy rhythms and by Mr. O'Connor's unstoppable melodic gift." The American Seasons was recorded with Metamorphosen and released on the Sony Classical label in Fall 2001.

Following the work’s release, a 28-city national tour with Metamorphosen earned universally spectacular reviews. The New York Times said, “... if Dvorak had spent his American leisure time in Nashville instead of Spillville, Iowa, ‘New World Symphony’ might have sounded like this.” Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe called the work “concise, lyrical and irresistibly rhythmic.” Wayne Gay of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said, “The American Seasons is destined to rank among the greatest masterpieces of American music...the first musical masterpiece of the 21st century.” The work was nationally broadcast New Year’s Day 2002 on PBS stations, paired with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

In recent years, as word of his considerable writing talents have spread, Mark O'Connor's compositions are being embraced by a variety of performers. Yo-Yo Ma has recorded the solo cello version of "Appalachia Waltz" and frequently performs it in recital. Dance troupes, including Twyla Tharp, the New York City Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, are constantly discovering O'Connor's expressive American music.

In 2001, O’Connor was commissioned by the Academy of St. Martin the Fields to create a concerto for violin and orchestra that will be given its world premiere at BBC Proms in London in August 2003; he will subsequently perform the work with the Academy on a tour of the United States in fall 2004.

In August 2000, O'Connor premiered his composition Double Concerto for Two Violins with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the Chicago Symphony with Christoph Eschenbach conducting. In 2001, O’Connor and Salerno-Sonnenberg performed the Double Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra and at the Aspen Music Festival to great critical acclaim. Shortly thereafter, O’Connor was asked by Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun to travel to Stuttgart perform the premiere of his Water Passion After St. Matthew, a work commissioned by the International Bach Academy to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Bach's death.

Mark O'Connor has appeared at The White House, the Presidential Inauguration Celebration and the ceremonies of Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Games for which he composed "Olympic Reel." He is often featured on major network television shows, and past appearances include CBS Sunday Morning, Great Performances on PBS, the Kennedy Center Honors and America's celebration of Israel's 50th birthday televised on CBS.

The recipient of numerous commissioning grants, including "Meet the Composer," in 1998, he received a commission from the McKim Fund of Library of Congress for a new violin sonata which he premiered in that year at the Library and was broadcast on National Public Radio. In May 2002, he delivered the commencement address and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Public Service Degree from The Sage Colleges in Troy/Albany, N.Y. for his many contributions to music and the cause of music education.

O'Connor regularly teaches master classes and has conducted symposia at many schools of music including The Juilliard School of Music, Tanglewood, Aspen, the Berklee College of Music, UCLA, the Eastman School of Music and the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. He generously donates his time in support of a number of organizations that promote music education and outreach, including Opus 118, Midori and Friends, Sphinx, Arts4All and the Music For Life Alliance. He also serves on the advisory panel for the selection of the Kennedy Center Honors. He is founder of the internationally recognized Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp and Fiddle Conference. At the Mark O’Connor Fiddle Camp near Nashville, Tennessee and the Mark O’Connor Strings Conference near San Diego, California, O'Connor assembles a world-class faculty to teach in a number of musical styles. These fiddle gatherings routinely draw participants from across the U.S. and Canada, as well as from Europe, South America and Asia.

O'Connor now resides in San Diego, Calif. with his wife and two children.

Mark O'Connor's website: http://www.markoconnor.com