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Mark O’Connor

Mark O’Connor can be an astonishingly versatile American violinist and composer who has already established remarkable success melding several styles of music — nation and bluegrass, jazz, and classical — into his very own unique design and voice. It has led to two Grammy Honours; a large number of his very own albums; collaborations using a variety of other music artists, such as for example Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Renée Fleming, Adam Taylor, Chris Thile, Alison Krauss, and Marin Alsop; along with a playing technique program trusted by string learners. O’Connor first had taken traditional electric guitar lessons as a kid and trained himself to try out flamenco music, before you begin fiddle lessons at age group 11. Shortly he was learning with Benny Thomasson, an icon of American fiddling. In his past due teens, O’Connor following became students of jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli, touring with him aswell. O’Connor then caused Dave Grisman and his Quintet with Steve Morse from the Dregs. Between 1975 and 1982, O’Connor gained competitions being a guitarist, fiddler, and mandolinist. He transferred to Nashville in 1983, learning to be a program player for most country stars, like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Music group, Emmylou Harris, and Randy Travis. O’Connor, Edgar Meyer, Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, and Sam Bush produced the band Power in Quantities in 1986, which performed a few of O’Connor’s very own pieces. His initial Grammy Award emerged in 1991 for his record New Nashville Felines. His music became more and more sophisticated, utilizing components of folk, traditional, jazz, and globe music — what he phone calls the “four pillars of string playing,” while he utilized more technical understanding from performers like Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Yehudi Menuhin, and Pinchas Zukerman. His initial record on Sony Classical, Appalachia Waltz (1996), with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer, impressed traditional critics using its originality and elegance and became an enormous crossover strike. The trio’s following album, Appalachian Trip (2000), earned O’Connor his second Grammy Award. His Fiddle Concerto, constructed in 1993, continues to be performed all over the world hundreds of moments. By 2010, he previously created another six concertos as well as the Americana Symphony, documented by Marin Alsop as well as the Baltimore Symphony. He documented his String Quartets No. 2 “Bluegrass” no. 3 “Old-Time” in ’09 2009 with Ida Kavafian, Paul Neubauer, and Matt Haimovitz. That same 12 months noticed the publication from the first publication of his string teaching technique. The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Gloriae Dei Cantores, the Eroica Trio — for whom he published Poets and Prophets, influenced from the music of Johnny Money — and film movie director Ken Burns up are among those people who have commissioned songs from O’Connor. The 2001 launch Warm Golf swing!, with Jon Burr and Frank Vignola, was a tribute to Grappelli; exactly the same Warm Golf swing Trio released Reside in NY in 2005. O’Connor experienced Renée Fleming, Alison Krauss, and Wayne Taylor among his guests for An Appalachian Xmas (2011), which also became an annual touring display. In 2015, O’Connor and his wife Maggie released their 1st album collectively, Duo. In past due 2015, Mark launched the O’Connor Music group, a modern bluegrass project where he was became a member of by wife Maggie, child Forrest O’Connor, and daughter-in-law Kate Lee. The group released its debut recording, Coming House, in August 2016.

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