Registration Begins For Mark O'Connor's Prestigious String Camps In New York City, Los Angeles And Nashville

Teacher Training In O'Connor Violin Method Available In New York
 
"A feast for the ears, mind, & soul"
-- violinist and instructor Sara Caswell on Mark O'Connor's String Camps

"This is my 13th year teaching at Mark's camp, and every year is intense, challenging, and marvelous in a different way"
-- violinist and instructor Darol Anger

Registration begins this week for Mark O'Connor's string camps in New York City, Los Angeles, CA, and Nashville, TN. O'Connor, the multi-Grammy-Award-winning composer and violinist, has gathered 36 of the world's top violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists to give aspiring string players, as well as advanced and professional string players, an extraordinary week of instruction and performance at each camp. Featured genres range from folk fiddling to jazz, classical to world music, providing unique experiences for the students and teachers in each city.

Mark O'Connor's inaugural string camp in New York City runs from July 27th - 31st, 2009 at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School and the Society for Ethical Culture, just a block from Lincoln Center. Register exclusively at MarkOConnor.com.

The Mark O'Connor String Institute at UCLA runs from June 29th -July 3rd at the Schoenberg Music Building, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music (where O'Connor is currently Artist in Residence), with registration beginning January 15th at www.Summer.Ucla.Edu/Institutes.

Mark O'Connor's fiddle camp in Tennessee runs from June 22nd - 26th at Montgomery Bell Park in Burns, TN. Registration begins February 7th exclusively at MarkOConnor.com.

The New York string camp will also offer a Teacher Training Course in the new O'Connor Violin Method, based on Mark O'Connor's new Method Books 1 and 2 (to be released in March by Alfred Publishing), and taught by the books' co-author Bob Phillips. 

The O'Connor Violin Method includes some of the most endearing melodies in American music and takes an American Classical approach to modern violin playing. It was inspired by the thousands of students O'Connor has taught at his string camps and at universities and conservatories across the country, and by his belief that the modern classical violin student who develops a working knowledge of folk fiddling, jazz music and world music styles can enjoy a lifetime of music-making.

Born 15 years ago in the hills of Tennessee and later expanded to Southern California and now New York, O'Connor's camps have given thousands of students the chance to try out new musical styles and techniques under expert guidance, play informally with their peers in jam sessions, hear performances by their teachers and fellow students in the evenings, and more - truly a life-changing program. Many current professional musicians were former students at the O'Connor camps, including:

* Natalie McMaster
* Members of Nickel Creek
* Members of Crooked Still
* Members of The Infamous String Dusters
* Andy Leftwich (member of the Ricky Skaggs Band)
* Casey Driessen (plays with Bela Fleck)
.. and many more!

Please find a complete list of teachers below.

COMPLETE LIST OF MARK O'CONNOR STRING CAMP INSTRUCTORS

VIOLIN
Mark O'Connor
Darol Anger
Rachel Barton
Mari Black 
John Blake
Kevin Burke 
Daniel Carwile
Sara Caswell
James Chancellor 
Tashina Clarridge
Michael Cleveland 
Billy Contreras 
Shane Cook
DBR
Matt Glasser
Brittany Haas 
Aubrey Haynie 
Bobby Hicks 
Barbara Lamb 
Mysore Manjunuth
Bruce Molsky
Philippe Quint
Samantha Robichaud 
Tracy Silverman
Buddy Spicher 
Lara St. John
Yale Strom
April Verch

VIOLA
Rebecca Albers
Kenji Bunch
David Wallace

CELLO
Maya Beiser
Mike Block
Antonio Lysy

DOUBLE BASS
Rachel Calin
Carlos Henriquez
 
For more information on Mark O'Connor, please contact Nancie S. Martin [nsmartin@shorefire.com] or Andy Silva [asilva@shorefire.com] at Shore Fire Media, 718-522-7171