Mark O’Connor

Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961 in Seattle, Washington) is an American classical, bluegrass, jazz and country violinist, fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging and 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 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 with whom O'Connor toured as a teenager, and guitarist Chet Atkins. O'Connor currently resides in New York City.

Mark O'Connor was a child prodigy who won national titles on the fiddle, guitar and mandolin as a teenager. In 1975 at age thirteen, O'Connor won the WSM (AM), Tennessee, and Grand Ole Opry sponsored Grand Masters Fiddle Championships in Nashville against amateur and professional competitors of all ages. That same year he won another national championship, this time on acoustic guitar, at the National Flat Pick Guitar Championship in Winfield, Kansas. At age 19, O'Connor won the Buck White International Mandolin Championship in Kerrville, Texas. He is a four-time grand champion (1979, 1980, 1981 and 1984) at the National Oldtime Fiddler's Contest in Weiser, Idaho.

O'Connor composes, arranges, and records American music across genres including folk, classical and jazz. His works include concertos, and compositions for string orchestra, string quartets, string trios, choral music, solo unaccompanied pieces and a new symphony (see Compositions). His "Fiddle Concerto (1992)", a violin concerto in American fiddle style commission by the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, has been performed over 200 times, making it one of the most performed concertos written in the last 40 years. In 1997, O'Connor and others composed and performed music based on folk melodies as arrangements in an original score by American modern classical composer Richard Einhorn for the American Revolutionary War-era Public Broadcasting Service documentary miniseries, Liberty! The American Revolution (the companion album is Liberty!). The theme music for the miniseries is O'Connor's "Song of the Liberty Bell." In 1999, he recorded his "Fanfare For The Volunteer" with the London Philharmonic for Sony Classical, and one of his most critically acclaimed orchestral pieces "Americans Seasons", which alludes to The Four Seasons (Vivaldi), for Sony Classical as well. "American Seasons", and his "Strings & Threads" Suite (1986) was performed by The Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra in 2001 at the Great Performers concert at Lincoln Center. In a review by the New York Times, "if Dvorak had spent his American leisure time in Nashville instead of Spillville, Iowa, his New World Symphony might have sounded like this." Both "Strings & Threads" Suite and "American Seasons" were recorded for the album The American Seasons, released in 2001 on the label OMAC. O'Connor recorded 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. 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. 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 chamber musicians Ida Kavafian, Paul Neubauer and Matt Haimovitz to present his second and third string quartets, amalgamating bluegrass with classical styles, at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. O'Connor released the recording for both string quartets under the label OMAC in May 2009. O'Connor 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 recorded solo albums for Rounder, Warner Bros. Records, Sony, and his own CD line OMAC Records.

O'Connor has developed a string instrument technique for music teachers and students, The O'Connor Method - A New American School of String Playing. The method places an emphasis on music and playing techniques from North America, in addition to focusing on rhythmic development, ear training, and improvisation. It differs from the European emphasis of the Suzuki method of violin training and its emphasis on "mother tongue" approach. The method is published as a series of books and also contains short essays about famous American fiddlers such as Thomas Jefferson and Davy Crockett, the history of Gypsy and Mariachi music, and various dances. Teacher training sessions based on the method take place around the United States and in other countries.

O'Connor has won two Grammy awards; one for his New Nashville Cats album (1992) and another for Appalachian Journey album (2001) 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. All 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.