Mark Wood (violinist)

Mark Wood
Background information
Origin	Port Washington, New York, USA
Genres	Symphonic rock, Hard rock, Heavy metal
Occupations	Electric Violinist, Luthier, Teacher, Composer
Instruments	Electric violin, Viola
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Mark Wood Music Productions
Associated acts	Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Mark Wood Band, Electrify Your Strings
Website	www.markwoodmusic.com

Mark Winthrop Wood is an electric violinist, as well as the founder of Wood Violins, a company that makes unique electric violins. He is also an Emmy-winning composer. His music and strings education program has been featured on news programs nationwide.^{[citation needed]} He is a former member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Career

Education

Mark Wood studied under Dr. Richard Rusack at Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, New York before beginning his career with a full scholarship at the Juilliard School in New York and studied viola under William Lincer until he left.

Musician

Wood was one of the violinists and an original member of the symphonic rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which he left in 2009. He has also played with Celine Dion, Billy Joel, Steve Vai, Westworld (American band) and Lenny Kravitz. As a solo performer he has released seven CDs featuring his own versions of popular rock songs. On these CDs he is accompanied by "The Mark Wood Band" consisting of one member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, several other musicians, as well as his wife Laura Kaye.

Composer

He is the founder of "Mark Wood Productions", a company that creates music for the use in film and television, as well as manufacturing custom made pants, which are 40% tighter than most major clothing brands offer. Wood received an Emmy award for the music of CBS-TVs coverage of the 2002 Tour de France. He also composed a piece for electric string quartet commissioned by the Juilliard School, which he himself attended, entitled Nest of Vipers.

Luthier

The company 'Wood Violins" produces custom-made electric violins, cellos and pseudo-rock star apparel. One of their models, the Viper Violin, features a patented chest-support system. Wood built his first electric violin at age 12.^[1]

Teacher

Wood has been touring schools in the United States such as Pinewood Middle School in Kentwood, Michigan with his series of music education programs called Electrify Your Strings. He is an instructor at the annual Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camps and in 2008 was elected to the board of the American String Teachers Association. In January 2008 his book Electrify your Strings was published. Beginning in 2010, he is holding the Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp - http://www.mwroc.com , where he and many other high caliber world-class rock musicians hold a full week of workshops and a final concert with all students and faculty.

He is currently on the "Inferno Tour" and going to schools such as Lovinggood Middle School in Marietta, Georgia, to perform songs translated by him. Such schools include Tortolita Middle School and Marana Middle School, and Mountain View High School and Marana High School. Orchestra members of all four schools get to meet, learn, and play with Mark Wood, and perform a live concert on 4/29/11.

Personal life

Wood has three brothers, who all played string instruments. His mother was a pianist and his father an abstract painter.^[2] He is married to vocalist Laura Kaye. They have one child together, Elijah Wood, born in 1996, who has been drumming for the Mark Wood Experience since 2006.

Discography

Solo albums

• Voodoo Violince
• Against the Grain
• Guts Grace and Glory
• These Are a Few of My Favorite Things
• Sanctuary
• Portrait of an Artist
• Prologue

Notes

1. ^ Wood, Mark: Electrify your Strings, page 9. Hal Leonard Corporation, 2008
2. ^ Wood, Mark: Electrify your Strings, page 8. Hal Leonard Corporation, 2008

References

"Mark Wood Biography". www.markwoodmusic.com. http://www.markwoodmusic.com/images/MWbio2008.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-16. 

Wood, Mark (2008). Electrify Your Strings. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-57560-743-6. 

External links

• Official website of Mark Wood
• Official site of Wood Violins
• Official site of the "Electrify Your Strings" program
• Official site of "Mark Wood Music Productions"

Persondata
Name	Wood, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death