Contact:
Elizabeth Blevins, Director, Office of Communications
Phyllis Noah, Communications Coordinator
Office: (740) 351-3810; FAX: (740) 351-3179; Cell: (740) 464-4854
940 Second Street – Portsmouth, Ohio 45662
E-mail: eblevins@shawnee.edu or pnoah@shawnee.edu
Web site: www.shawnee.edu

Violinist to play classical to old-time fiddling on stage at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts

            SOPAA and Shawnee State University present violinist Mark O'Connor at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at Shawnee State University’s Vern Riffe Center for the Arts.
            O'Connor is both versatile and a virtuoso, bringing the country's most talented and lauded players in for a joyous concert of classical, jazz, mountain, Celtic, old-time and Texas-style fiddling.
            Joined by six renowned traditional and classical string players, this performance is sure to bring a distinctly American history to life through music, putting you on your feet with cheers and applause.
            Tickets can be purchased at the McKinley Box Office located in the lobby of the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, at Ticketmaster.com or by calling (740) 351-3600. SSU students, faculty, staff and alumni discounts are available. For more information, please visit www.sopaa.org.
            The event is sponsored in part by Anna Margaret Stillwell and The Richard D. Marting Foundation Inc.
            As part of the Jane M.G. Foster Distinguished Lecture Series, O’Connor will present a one-hour discussion of how he has uses traditional American music styles in his own compositions at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 8 in the Flohr Lecture Hall at the Clark Memorial Library.
            By playing these examples, O’Connor will show how accessible classical music can be by using traditional musical forms to develop a true American musical style. A question and answer session will follow.
            The lecture is free and open to the public. To see more about O’Connor, go to www.markoconnor.com.