Mark O'Connor. Photo by Jim McGuire

Correction: The Dates for Mark O’Connor String Institute at UCLA were incorrectly listed. The correct dates are June 29 – July 3rd.

Registration started this week for Mark O’Connor’s string camp in New York City, and registration dates were announced for camps in Los Angeles and Nashville, Tenn.

O’Connor, the multi-Grammy-Award-winning composer and instrumentalist, has gathered 36 of the world’s top violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists to give aspiring string players, as well as advanced and professional string players, an extraordinary week of instruction and performance at each camp.

Featured genres range from folk fiddling to jazz, classical to world music, providing unique experiences for the students and teachers in each city.

Mark O’Connor’s inaugural string camp in New York City runs from July 27-31, 2009 at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School and the Society for Ethical Culture, just a block from Lincoln Center. Registration is being handled exclusively online at MarkOConnor.com.

The Mark O’Connor String Institute at UCLA runs from July 29 to Aug. 3rd June 29 – July 3rd at the Schoenberg Music Building, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music (where O’Connor is currently Artist in Residence), with registration beginning Jan. 15 at www.Summer.Ucla.Edu.

Mark O’Connor’s fiddle camp in Tennessee runs from June 22 – 26th at Montgomery Bell Park in Burns, Tenn. Registration begins Feb. 7 exclusively at MarkOConnor.com.

The New York string camp will also offer a teacher training course in the new O’Connor Violin Method, based on Mark O’Connor’s new Method Books 1 and 2 (to be released in March by Alfred Publishing), and taught by the books’ co-author Bob Phillips. The method includes some of the most endearing melodies in American music and takes an American Classical approach to modern violin playing.

It was inspired by the thousands of students Mark O’Connor has taught at his string camps and at universities and conservatories across the country, and by his belief that the modern classical violin student who develops a working knowledge of folk fiddling, jazz music and world music styles can enjoy a lifetime of music-making.

Launched 15 years ago in the hills of Tennessee and later expanded to Southern California and now New York, O’Connor’s camps have given thousands of students the chance to try out new musical styles and techniques under expert guidance, play informally with their peers in jam sessions and hear performances by their teachers and fellow students in the evenings.