O’Connor Family Band

Artist Information

The Band features one of the most iconic fiddlers in American history, Mark O’Connor. His collaborations with James Taylor, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Alison Krauss, Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, and many others have led to performances on the most visible concert stages worldwide. In addition to having headlined numerous times at the major summer bluegrass festivals, including Telluride and Merlefest, Mark has performed his own violin concertos hundreds of times over the last 20 years, including with the Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and London Symphony Orchestras.

In the O’Connor Family Band, Mark is joined by his wife Maggie (fiddle, vocals), son Forrest (mandolin, vocals), and Forrest’s partner Kate Lee (fiddle, vocals). Their repertoire is centered around some of Mark’s greatest instrumentals as well as songs written by Forrest and Kate, the band’s lead singers, whose tight harmonies and lyrical honesty have earned praise from the likes of Krauss, Rosanne Cash, and Mary Gauthier. Forrest, a graduate of Harvard University and the former Tennessee State Mandolin Champion, met Kate, a versatile vocalist and frequent backup performer on the Country Music Awards shows, in late 2013, and the two have been writing songs together ever since. Maggie, a Master’s graduate of the Peabody Institute, is herself an accomplished violinist and fiddler and has performed duos with Mark around the world, including with the Mendelssohn Orchestra (Hungary), the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, and the Santa Rosa Symphony.

Along with national flatpick guitar champion Joe Smart and Eastman School of Music graduate and current University of Miami PhD candidate Geoff Saunders, the O'Connor Family Band plans to record their debut album in early 2016. After headlining at the Walnut Valley Festival and at IBMA in late 2015, Mark is eager to introduce his family to fans around the world.