Mark O'Connor

The New York Times has called Grammy award winner Mark O'Connor's career "one of the most spectacular journeys in recent American music." The Los Angeles Times described him as an artist who is "one of the most talented and imaginative...working in music - any music - today."
A product of America's aural folk tradition, O'Connor studied with legendary Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson, and at age 17 toured with Stephane Grappelli. Grappelli and O'Connor became fast friends, recording together over the last two decades of Grappelli's life.
In recent years, O'Connor's renown as a composer has grown with his acclaimed "Fiddle Concerto No. 1"; "Fanfare for the Volunteer"; and the 2000 premieres of "Seasons," a work for chamber orchestra, and his "Double Violin Concerto," which received its premiere with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The latter work, a melding of classical, jazz, and blues influences, featured O'Connor and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg as soloists.
Mark O'Connor appears regularly in solo recitals and with the country's major symphony orchestras.