We’ve written previously about the new American Roots Music Program at The Berklee College of Music in Boston, which got its official kickoff earlier this month. Mark O’Connor spent a week on campus conducting workshops, master classes and interacting with students, and performed with them in a gala concert on December 10.

Berklee published a piece on their web site last week about O’Connor’s visit and the ARMP launch. From the article by Danielle Dreilinger…

Though Berklee created the acoustic string principal only three years ago, the college has some 70-odd students in that camp, said program director Matt Glaser. They include some of the acoustic music world’s top prospects, including Presidential Scholar Sierra Hull.

The choice of O’Connor said a lot about what the American Roots Music Program will be: dedicated to learning from tradition but hungry to uncover the creative and complex ways that roots music styles can grow and interrelate. After all, a dyed-in-the-wool Canadian fiddler like student Kimberley Fraser—who performed the “Olympic Reel” with O’Connor—came to Berklee to branch out, she said.

Read the full article online.

O’Connor is also set to debut a new jazz trio in New York’s Blue Note next week. It will feature John Patitucci on bass and recent Berklee grad Julian Lage on guitar, performing original compositions and arrangements with C’Connor on fiddle.