Mark O’Connor, Gypsies, and a Whole Mess of Fiddles

For years now, I’ve been searching for a readily-available version of the legendary Mark O’Connor’s highly unusual Fiddle Concerto. It’s a really fun piece of music, and one that deserves to be much better known.

The downside to my long-suffering search? I’m regularly demoralized by my inability to find a YouTube link (or playlist) to share with y’all. (There’s Grooveshark, I guess. But I’m not confident that their links will last after I link to them.)

The upside? I almost-as-regularly stumble across things like this:

Three things I’d like to note, in particular:

1. That’s from an event put on by Berklee College called “Mark O’Connor Meets Berklee.” (Apparently, he’s a regular performer/guest professor there.)

2. It’s awesome. I think my face melted off. So. Many. FIDDLES!

3. There’s more. Lots. You can watch highlights, if you’d like …or the entire thing.

You’re welcome. Don’t mention it.

And don’t worry. I’ll keeping lookin’ for the Concerto.

UPDATE: Mr. O’Connor pointed me to this video of the concerto’s third movement — my favorite movement! — which he performed with the New York All State Youth Orchestra in 2008. (Hang on a second. Let me go over that again, just in case you missed it. Mark O’Connor sent this to me. He, himself. Yes, I’m geekin’ out. Just a bit.)