Mark Vickness began his musical training on piano at age six. The road from there to the composer/modern fingerstyle guitarist he is today included a bachelor’s and master’s degree in composition, studies in classical piano, guitar, sitar and tabla, years as a performing jazz guitarist, composer and arranger, several film scores and two decades of recording and performing as the instrumental half of the acoustic fusion duo, Glass House. Mark’s performing experience spans a huge range of genres from free improvisation to West African drum and dance ensembles, from Motown and funk bands to big band jazz and orchestral conducting. Schooled in composition by Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Mel Powell, Mark has recorded and performed with world renowned musicians including two time Grammy winners, The Turtle Island String Quartet, Alex de Grassi, Don Ross, violinist, Mads Tolling, and legendary bassist, Michael Manring. Mark’s debut solo CD, Places, has garnered tremendous critical acclaim. Writing in Acoustic Guitar Magazine (November, 2018), Pat Moran had this to say: “Vickness’ uncanny ability to evoke the complex emotions linked to these times and places transcend the specific and catapults his travelogue into the universal. A varied and virtuosic “photo album” of remote, gritty, and mystical locales, Places traces a map of Vickness’ emotional life, while sketching the subtle and winding pathways creativity takes on its way to fruition.” Since then, Mark released Interconnected in 2020 featuring MVI (Mark Vickness Interconnected) followed by the 2023 release of In The Rain Shadow with an expanded, seven-member MVI.
