BPO JOINS MARK O’CONNOR IN GROUNDBREAKING "IMPROVISED VIOLIN CONCERTO"

Concert Review, Buffalo Philharmonic, February 26, 2012 (Buffalo Spree)

Since World War II, symphony halls have rarely been the settings for important new American music and most orchestras have survived as musical museums rather than showcases for new art. Much to its credit, the Buffalo Philharmonic has resisted this trend; indeed it was once an important outpost of the avant-garde, and under JoAnn Falletta it has taken every opportunity to feature contemporary music. Buffalo was rewarded by this sense of mission Saturday night when it hosted one of the first performances of Mark O’Connor’s Improvised Violin Concerto.

Now in his fifties, Mark O’Connor is one of America’s great child prodigies.  Although he has chosen the violin as his musical voice, in his youth he performed professionally on the guitar and mandolin. Compositionally, he has distilled the diverse strains of our national musical heritage into a "serious" music that is a heady brew of symphonic minimalism, jazz, and bluegrass. 

The Improvised Violin Concerto is improvised only by the violin …