Electric violinist Mark Wood is a highly acclaimed international recording artist, Emmy Award-winning composer, instrument inventor and manufacturer, educator and producer.

His career began with a full scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School in New York, in addition to which he studied under renowned maestro Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Programme.

Today, he is widely acknowledged as the premier electric rock violinist of his generation, and his first release, 'Voodoo Violince',is widely hailed as the quintessential rock violin record.

He is the lead electric violinist and an original member of the acclaimed symphonic rock group, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and has received two platinum and three gold records for his work with them. In fact, Mr. Wood's own band features members of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and vocalist Laura Kaye, with whom he collaborates and to whom he is married.

She also appears on several of his CDs.

The artist has released six CDs of his highly original music, showcasing his unique approach to the electric violin, and playing on his own line of patented instruments. He has toured and recorded with many of the industry's most prominent stars, including Celine Dion, Billy Joell, Dee Snider's Van Helsing's Curse, Lenny Kravitz, Steve Vai, Roger Daltry of The Who and Jewel.

Mr. Wood has been a featured guest on the Tonight Show, where Jay Leno introduced the long-haired artist as "Itzhak Perlman pulling his hair out". Among the many magazine articles written about him, Time described his work as "Punk metal violin at its very best", while Entertainment Tonight hailed him as an "incredible musician".

The music he composed for the Tour de France bicycle race on CBS-TV earned him an Emmy, in addition to which he received three Emmy nominations for a variety of TV and film projects, most notably the opening music for the 1999 Winter Olympics show.

A member of the American String Teacher Association, Mr. Wood's 'Electrify Your Strings' (EYS) series of music education programmes are enormously successful and in great demand. In 2007 alone, EYS reached over 20,000 string students. With the release of his first EYS method book, his programme is now accessible to the general public.

Along with Ms Kaye, who is vice-president and CEO of Mark Wood Music Productions, Wood Violins, and the EYS programme, and 11-year-old son Elijah (who frequently joins his parents on stage to play drums and violin), Mr. Wood tours extensively with the EYS programme. Rock 'n' roll chanteuse Ms Kaye's role in this programme involves working with choir students, preparing them for performance and auditioning soloists to be featured during the event.