Two Best Available A-Price Tickets – for Mark O’ Connor Quartet: An Evening of Strings on Friday, March 4, 2011 at 8pm, Merrill Auditorium in Portland.

 If there’s a better violinist out there today, he or she will have to get past O’Connor to claim the crown, says the New York Daily News.  Fierce fiddler. Virtuosic violinist. Masterful composer. Fearless improviser. Generous collaborator. From blue grass to country to jazz to American inflected classical, O’Connor’s playing and composition defy categorization. O’Connor is known for his work with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, Matt Haimovitz and Rosanne Cash to name a few.

His Fanfare for the Volunteer was recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra; he’s been commissioned by the Academy of St. Martin the Fields. The Ovation Concert with O’Connor and his quartet features String Quartet No.2 Bluegrass and String Quartet No. 3. Old-Time as well as selections from his Grammy-award winning Appalachia Waltz.