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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!"
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."
Mark Wood's dexterity, ferocity, texture and attack of playing almost invariably lead to comparisons with some of the rock era's most renowned guitarists. Comparisons, however, cannot come close to capturing the electricity, passion, and innovation exhibited in all of his very original music.
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.
Mark is currently starring 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).
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 playing on his own line of patented instruments; he has toured and recorded with many of the industry's most prominent performers. In addition to touring with Celine Dion, where he was featured on a duet with her on 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 is lead electric violinist and an original member of the multi-platinum-selling symphonic rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra, receiving two platinum and three gold records from his work with them, and has performed in front of millions of people with the group since their inception over 10 years ago.
Mark was a featured performer with rock icon Billy Joel for the historic "Last Play at Shea" concerts at Shea Stadium in New York in July 2008; and shared the stage with Sir Paul McCartney, Roger Daltry, Steven Tyler, and more.
He is putting finishing touches on his latest solo release and tours with an amazing group of musicians – his band features members of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and vocalist Laura Kaye, who collaborates with Mark and appears on several of his CDs.
In the capacity of composer, Mark started Mark Wood Music Productions, a company which focuses mainly on creating dramatic and inspirational pieces of music for television and film markets (particularly sports productions, network specials, and commercial spots) and has earned Mark a number of impressive video and audio production credits. 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. The client list of Mark Wood Music Productions includes many of the major television networks as well as several world famous recording artists. 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. His concerto 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 where Mark was accompanied by the Etowah Youth Orchestra conducted by Michael Gagliardo.
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 become highly successful in custom manufacturing and selling the revolutionary patented Viper electric violin in particular, which features a self-supporting mechanism, enabling the player to perform without using a chin rest or shoulder pad. 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." Brand-new for 2008, Mark developed the Stingray SV4 electric violin, the Wood electric violin amp, and the Wood Wah wah-wah pedal as a complete “turnkey” experience for the budding electric violinist.
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 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.
SOME MARK WOOD HISTORY...
It seems that Mark Wood's passion for music and artistic innovation goes
back to birth. His father is a professional artist/sculptor and his mother is an accomplished
concert pianist. Mark also has three brothers who are professional string players and educators
as well. In fact, the brothers often played together in public, billing themselves as "The
Wood String Quartet."
Mark's rigorous viola training as a youth led him to first chair positions in school orchestras
and the highest standings in state high school string competitions. Along the way Mark received
training at the Tanglewood Music School working with
maestro Leonard Bernstein and the Boston Symphony and
participated in performances at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center at age 15. This training
and experience ultimately led to Mark receiving a full scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard
School of Music at age 17.
As is quite apparent today, Mark's interest in the viola and violin went well beyond acquiring his prodigious instrumental technique. He has always been deeply interested in the heritage and future of the instruments as well. His music training was supplemented by regular visits to his father's wood shop where he tirelessly experimented with changing the structure and design of the violin. Although Mark's initial goal was simply to update the instrument's design to make it look more "cool," he soon realized that the acoustic violin's sonic beauty is tightly linked to its traditional shape leaving little room for deviation from the basic model. Mark realized that the design constraints dictated by the acoustic violin could be largely eliminated by electrifying the instrument, which led him to experiment with a wide variety of radically shaped violins that are far better suited to amplified performance in a contemporary music context than the acoustic violin. Thus his company Wood Violins came into being; having built their reputation on the quality of their custom-made hand-built electric violins, WV has often been described as the "Stradivarius of electric violins" and is devoted to manufacturing unique and unusual electric violins for the general public.
Excited about the potential of the electric violin in contemporary music and fueled by his passion for designing newer and better electric violins, Mark devotes full time to following careers in composition, performance, music education, and violin making. Self-sponsored, he has successfully worked in all of these areas and more for over twenty years.