Mark O'Connor's latest CD features a recording of his Americana Symphony.
O'Connor was a contest winning prodigy on fiddle, mandolin and guitar. He was so accomplished at a young age, that one Nashville veteran said he was a good argument for reincarnation.
According to O'Connor, "The three poles or sources of my music are classical, folk and jazz. My two mentors were the great Texan and south western style fiddler Benny Thomasson and the French jazz violinist Stephan Grappelli. As to Classical, I' have to say that I'm a Beethoven man."
O'Connor has explored a variety of musics, playing with traditional groups and even the rock band, The Dixie Dregs. He observes "that to write American music, you have to be a player or perhaps a musicologist. A person has to be sensitive not only to the broad outlines of our music, but to the details of the styles that separate it in such rich ways."
A recent experience led Mark to comment that in some ways his music has the same respect for traditions as Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture has for its surroundings. "There's a wonderful desire for independent shape and structure, but also a respect for the landscape that a building is part of."