Grammy-winning fiddler Mark O’Connor performs at TTU
Multi-Grammy Award winning fiddler and violinist-composer Mark O’Connor brings his “American String Celebration” to Tennessee Tech University’s Center Stage performance program on Feb. 2.
The 7:30 p.m. event is free and open to the public. The performance will be in Wattenbarger Auditorium of the Bryan Fine Arts Building on campus. Arrive early. Tickets aren’t required but seating is limited.
In his “American String Celebration,” O’Connor has gathered some of this country’s most talented and lauded young players for a joyous concert featuring classical, jazz, mountain, Celtic, old-time and Texas-style fiddling.
O’Connor is well known for his collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer for “Appalachia Waltz” and “Appalachian Journal.” In recent years, O’Connor has created many impressive compositions, including the Johnny Cash-inspired piano trio “Poets and Prophets.” His work, “American Symphony” with the Baltimore Symphony, was released on CD last year.
Country and bluegrass music aficionados know him well for his collaborations with singers and musicians Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs and Steve Wariner on the CMA Award winning “Restless.” Legions of session players from Nashville know him from the more than 450 projects he was involved with there, leading to his being named Musician of the Year six consecutive years 1991-96 by the CMA.
O’Connor, who now resides in New York, devotes much of his time to teaching young violinists. His string camps for young players each summer in Nashville have now expanded to Los Angeles and New York.
Last November, he released Books I and II of the “O’Connor Violin Method.” The method, which some say is similar to the Suzuki violin teaching method, is rooted in American tunes. Rather than “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” students learn “Boil ‘em Cabbage Down,” a hoedown that was the first tune O’Connor learned to play, and folk melodies such as “Amazing Grace” and “Buffalo Gals.”
