Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Grammy Award-winning violin/fiddle virtuoso Mark O’Connor about the rewards and challenges of compositions, developing an American classical style and the dangers of boredom.
CP: Two of your primary influences, Benny Thomasson and Stephane Grappelli, are considered a fiddler and a violinist, respectively. What do you consider yourself?
MO: Both. I like both. I think it’s the American scenario or environment, because a lot of American string music is from the folk music culture. We’ve labeled that more on the fiddle side. Obviously, a lot of our jazz and concert music is violin. I’m one of those artists who has brought those two things together in my career and compositions. I like to use both as much as I can.
CP: How old were you when you first picked up the fiddle? When did you feel sold on playing professionally?
MO: I was 11. I studied classical music on the guitar for seven years before that, so I was a classical music student. I fell in love with the violin immediately. Even before I got one, I knew I was going to love it.