Mark O'Connor to headline St. Patrick's weekend concert fare

Mar 10, 2005

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 509-326-3136

Mark O'Connor to headline St. Patrick's weekend concert fare

SPOKANE: 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. He will bring that and a brand new award as one of the leading Irishmen in the country when he appears with the Spokane Symphony Friday, March 18, at 8 p.m. in the Spokane Opera House.

On March 16, the Irish American Magazine will announce its Top 100 Irish in New York City and Mark O'Connor will be on hand to accept the award.

Popular Associate Conductor Morihiko Nakahara will conduct the orchestra The program will feature some his most well-known compositions, including Threads and Strings, Call of the Mockingbird, and Fanfare for the Volunteer.

An excerpt from a recent feature in the New York Times eloquently describes 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, his 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, O'Connor absorbed knowledge and influence from a multitude of musical styles and genres. Now, at age 43, 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."

His first recording for the Sony Classical record label, Appalachia Waltz, was a collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma and doublebassist 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 him as a direct cultural descendant of America's 18th century musicians, the producers of the six-part PBS documentary on the American Revolution approached 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 his 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." O'Connor was invited to contribute to the soundtrack of Ron Maxwell film, "Gods and Generals," released in 2003.

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..."

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

The Baltimore 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."

Tickets are $22, $30, $36 and $40. Tickets are available in advance without service charge at the Spokane Symphony ticket office, 818 W. Riverside, Suite 100, or by calling 509-624-1200. Tickets are also available at all TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT or at spokanesympony.org.