LAF—Non-Profit Florida Concert Venues and Performances:
Haiti Relief Benefit
Unaccompanied Solo Violin Reprisal with Two Time Grammy Winner Mark O'Connor
Sunday, January 31, 2010 7:30pm
Tickets $35 Orchestra, $30 Mezzanine, Members $5 Off
$15 Off Students with ID (select normal ticket and click on discount code)
$10 Off FSMTA/ FMTA Members (select normal ticket and click on discount code)
$9 Off Senior Discount (55 and Over)(select normal ticket and click on discount code)
Mark O'Connor returns to the concert stage performing his acclaimed solo recital. From foot stomping fiddle tunes, his electrifying caprices and warm homage to his violin and fiddle heroes to ragtime, free improvisation, jazz and blues.
A memorable evening of breathtaking Mark O'Connor performances, unheard and unseen in more than a decade.
"When I walk on stage with the solo violin, an instrument that has been around for so many hundreds of years, it is so exciting to be able to bring new dimensions to the instrument while at the same time honoring the past traditions and great legacies of the players who came before me. To add to the repertoire with new literature as well as add to the technical and stylistic language of the violin, the instrument that is so close to the human soul, has been my great passion." Mark O'Connor 8/16/08
Born and raised in Seattle, Mark O'Connor was always a bit out of sync with his teenage peers. Understandably so, since he was winning fiddle contests and had mapped out a unique career path. O'Connor moved to Nashville in 1983, already a former guitar sideman for jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli and violinist of The Dregs. When O'Connor arrived in Music City (the post-Urban Cowboy era), fiddle was hardly in vogue, and it took a couple of years for him to make his mark. Finally, in 1985 the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band used him in their single "High Horse"; thanks to that work, O'Connor's phone number became a popular one with country record producers. Over the next five years he played on 450 records and was voted CMA Musician of the Year 6 times in a row through the first half of the 1990's. Mark's recordings include such stellar projects as Trio by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris; Always & Forever by Randy Travis; Killin' Time by Clint Black; and Loving Proof by Ricky Van Shelton. Despite his success, O'Connor gave up session work to concentrate on his own solo career, increasingly rooted in the classical realm thanks to collaborators including Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, and Edgar Meyer. O'Connor has won two Grammy awards; one for his New Nashville Cats album and another for his Appalachian Journey album he did with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer. Now Sharon Isbin is a 2010 Grammy nominee for her performance on "Journey to the New World," her latest recording made on the Sony Classical label with Joan Baez and Mark O'Connor on violin (and composer of "Strings & Threads Suite" ).
Below are some links highlighting Mark's varied career.
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