Mark O’Connor (born August 5, 1961) is an American composer, fiddle player, and multi-instrumentalist whose music uniquely blends bluegrass, country, jazz, and classical traditions. A three-time Grammy Award winner and six-time Country Music Association Musician of the Year, he has been a leading figure in shaping an “American classical” sound rooted in folk and vernacular styles.

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Born in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, O’Connor quickly rose to national prominence as a champion fiddler, guitarist, and mandolinist, studying with influential mentors such as Benny Thomasson and Stéphane Grappelli. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he has released over 45 albums, appeared on hundreds of recordings, and composed extensively across genres, including concertos, string quartets, orchestral works, and a symphony.

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O’Connor’s Fiddle Concerto (1992), written in an American fiddle style, has become one of the most frequently performed concertos of the past half-century. His albums New Nashville Cats and Heroes brought him international recognition, while collaborations with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer on Appalachia Waltz and Appalachian Journey topped the classical Billboard charts for nearly two years. His music has also reached wide audiences through projects like The Olympic Reel for the 1996 Summer Olympics and orchestral works such as American Seasons.

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In 1999, Mark O’Connor recorded Fanfare For The Volunteer and the critically acclaimed American Seasons with the London Philharmonic for Sony Classical. The latter work, which alludes to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, prompted The New York Times to remark that had Dvorák spent his American leisure in Nashville rather than Iowa, his New World Symphony might have sounded like O’Connor’s music. By 2001, O’Connor performed "American Seasons" and his "Strings & Threads" Suite at Lincoln Center with the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, later releasing both pieces on his own OMAC Records label.

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In 2008, he further expanded his collaborative projects with a recording of his Double Violin Concerto, alongside Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, conducted by Marin Alsop and performed by the Colorado Symphony. The following year, he teamed with chamber musicians Ida Kavafian, Paul Neubauer, and Matt Haimovitz at Merkin Concert Hall to debut his second and third string quartets, which seamlessly blended bluegrass and classical styles.

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Through his compositions, performances, and collaborations across genres, O’Connor has played a defining role in expanding the possibilities of the string tradition in American music.

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Mark O’Connor’s String Quartet No. 3, “Old-Time” draws on the deep roots of American folk tradition, transforming the spirit of old-time fiddling into a dynamic chamber music setting. Inspired by the cultural and musical history connected to the Hudson River and the Appalachian region, the piece channels the energy and character of traditional fiddle music while expanding it through the language of the string quartet. Lively, rhythmically driven motifs and fiddle tunes pass between the instruments, growing in complexity through layered textures. The result is a work that feels both grounded in history and alive with a sense of forward motion and creativity.

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“String Quartet No. 3 (Old-Time) was composed on the occasion marking 400 years of history dating from the days of the first European settlements. My specific task from the Hudson Commission was to concentrate music based on the natural habitat and beauty of the Hudson as well as on the time of the first European settlers. It was natural for me to think about old-time fiddling in this light. In 1909 Washington Irving described the Catskill Mountains as a "dismembered branch of the Appalachian Mountains." My own Dutch ancestors settled in the Hudson Valley in the early 1600’s, and eventually traveled down the Appalachians to settle in the South in the early 1800’s. The old-time fiddling that dominated those areas along that route is the musical language utilized in creating this String Quartet.

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For the musical genesis of the Quartet, I initially created phrases from the fiddle that were molded out of old-time fiddling tradition. With technical twists and turns, the phrases became unique and new but all the while still connected to the tradition. It is these phrases that I used as material to create the String Quartet. Through the process of composing, techniques such as re- harmonization, development, canonic applications spill over each other like the Hudson tributaries in the Adirondacks. The counterpoint of the Quartet invigorates and establishes itself. The result is a wholly participating body emphasizing transitions from the traditional to the contemporary in sound and style. The music here is no longer fiddle music as the inventions of the quartet embarks on a new story, a new way to play, and with a new musical idea to put forward.”

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- Mark O’Connor