BIOGRAPHY: MARK AGNOR

Mark Agnor, violin, enjoys exploring his interests in a variety of musical genres. As a highly sought after freelance artist, he has focused his energy on performing chamber music in a variety of settings presenting numerous world premieres. Agnor is interested in the works of living composers, and as such has performed with many innovative critically acclaimed groups like the Jazz String Quintet, and Revolution Ensemble.

Although Agnor has worked with Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues for many years from time to time, this will be his sixth year as a full-time member of the ensemble. Previous season highlights with Chamber Blues have included performances at Denver's Arvada Center, Aspen's Wheeler Opera House, the Cleveland Playhouse Square Center, Winnipeg International Folk Festival,New York Chautauqua, and performances in France.

Recently, Chamber Blues premiered a concerto grosso for symphony written for them by Academy Award winning composer, Joseph Renzetti, with orchestras in Illinois and Michigan. Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues has been featured on syndicated broadcasts of Larry King Live, Dan Aykroyd's House of Blues Radio Hour, a special feature on Public Television's "Art Beat" and Chicago Tonight, and National Public Radio's "Morning Edition with Scott Simon", Voice of America, and features in publications of Musician, Jazziz, Billboard, Blues Revue and Down Beat Magazines.

Agnor holds Bachelor and Masters degrees from Baldwin-Wallace and University of Michigan in violin and euphonium. In a previous decade, Agnor has toured extensively in the United States, Europe and Asia with the Mantovani Orchestra having served as the concertmaster, as well as having served as concertmaster of the Sarasota Opera in Florida.

Mark Agnor can be heard on the live third recording on Alligator Records titled the Traveling Chamber Blues Show.