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Celine Dion - "It's amazing what he can do with a violin and a bow"
Jay Leno - "Itzhak Perlman pulling his hair out, ladies and gentlemen!"
CBS News - "You gotta see this guy to believe it!"
Entertainment Tonight - "Incredible musician!"
USA Networks - "We use his music all the time and LOVE IT!"
CBS Sunday Morning - "Moving violin into the future"
Time Magazine - "Funk metal violin at its very best"
Yngwie Malmsteen - "This music is totally different from anything else I've heard! Totally different. When I came around the first time, everybody said 'this is weird.' Yet that's the initial thing to do; something that no one else has done. That's very important. Mark Wood's done that. It's completely nuts! It's great!"
Arnold Steinhardt (The Guarnari String Quartet) - “Mark Wood is the future of violins.”
The Professor - WFBG - Altoona, PA - "Not only are his CDs curious listening, they are astounding listening, as Wood breaks acres of new ground . . . I need not say more - listen and discover Mark Wood for yourself . . . [It] is THAT impressive."
In an industry where originality is a highly prized commodity, recording artist, performer, producer, inventor and Emmy-winning composer Mark Wood is truly an original. He began his career with a full scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School in New York and had the privilege of studying under Maestro Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Program.
As an electric violinist, Mark Wood is a highly acclaimed international recording artist who has released six CDs of his highly original music; showcasing his unique approach to the electric violin with his own line of patented instruments. He has toured and recorded with many of the industry's most prominent performers, such as Celine Dion, where he was featured on a duet with her for the song "To Love You More," Mark was also string arranger on two of her records. He was the featured violinist in Billy Joel's video "All About Soul," appeared on "MTV Unplugged" with Lenny Kravitz, and has performed with Everclear in a live special for New York radio station WPLJ-FM.
Mark also toured with Billy Joel in 2008 and was with him for both historic final concerts at Shea stadium in July 2008.
Mark recently starred in a national television ad campaign for Pepsi. The music track is a Kanye West produced hip hop version of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (featuring the rapper Nas).
Mark was an original member of the multi-platinum-selling symphonic rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra since their inception 13 years ago, receiving two platinum and three gold records from his work with them, and has performed in front of millions of people with the group over the years.
He is putting finishing touches on his latest solo release and tours with an amazing group of musicians as part of The Mark Wood Experience. His band features vocalist Laura Kaye, who collaborates with Mark and appears on several of his CDs.
In the capacity of composer, he received his first Emmy award for music he composed for CBS-TV’s coverage of the 2002 Tour de France bicycle race, and has received three additional Emmy nominations; for music for the Winter Olympics on CBS-TV and a documentary for ABC-TV; the most recent nomination for music for the 2003 Tour de France. One of Mark’s commissions was from The Juilliard School, who enlisted him to compose a piece for their electric string quartet – “Nest of Vipers” had its world premiere in April 2003 at Lincoln Center in New York City. He has composed several concertos for electric violin and orchestra; the 15-minute groundbreaking piece entitled “Innocence to Enlightenment” had its debut in August 2003, and “Viper Vs. Orchestra” premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2007 with the Etowah Youth Orchestra.
As an inventor, Mark established Wood Violins, a company whose mission is to make Mark's incredible instruments available to the general public. Wood Violins has established a formidable reputation in the electric string world with its hand-crafted custom instruments, ranging from the 4-string fretless Stingray all the way to the 7-string fretted Viper. The company stands behind its claim to have made the most important change to the violin in 400 years and is often referred to as the “Stradivarius of electric violins.”
In early 2008, Mark was elected to the board of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA), where he will have the opportunity to affect the future of progressive string education in our country on a truly grand scale. And as educators across the country are quickly catching on to the importance of incorporating alternative teaching methods into their curriculum, Mark’s “Electrify Your Strings” series of music education programs have become enormously successful and in demand. EYS has really captured the media’s attention and has been featured on several national broadcasts of CBS Evening News, along with segments on ABC-TV, NBC-TV, CNN, and many others. EYS has been brought to over 100 schools in the US, including the Berklee School of Music, The Juilliard School, Oneonta University, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and many others. In addition, along with such formidable colleagues as Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarnari String Quartet, Isaac Stern, and Yo Yo Ma, he is an instructor of a special course at the annual Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camps held in Nashville and San Diego. In 2008, Mark was invited by the Governor and First Lady of Arkansas (Mike and Ginger Beebe) to a private reception at the Governor’s Mansion to honor the work he’s done in the field of music education.
In January 2008, Cherry Lane and Hal Leonard published “Electrify Your Strings,” the definitive electric violin method book written by Mark Wood. This is the first in a series of books that Mark is working on and is geared towards students and educators alike.
Major media appearances in the capacity of recording artist and composer include: THE TONIGHT SHOW with Jay Leno, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, QVC, PBS, CBS SUNDAY MORNING, MTV NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, E! ENTERTAINMENT, CBS SPORTS, CBS NEWS and CNN (among others).
Print media features include articles in: TIME MAGAZINE, USA TODAY, THE NEW YORK TIMES, NEWSDAY, BILLBOARD, STRINGS MAGAZINE, and GUITAR MAG.
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BE SURE TO VISIT WOOD VIOLINS TO FIND OUT ABOUT MARK'S INCREDIBLE HAND-CRAFTED ELECTRIC VIOLINS, VIOLAS, AND CELLOS!! If you are a Viper, Sabre, Stingray, or Cobra player, and you have questions about your instrument, please visit WOOD VIOLINS and use the contact form there to send us a message!
