About The Composer

Mark Hellem has been composing and arranging since he was in high school. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN and did graduate study in composition with Dominick Argento at the University of Minnesota and with the late Vincent Perichetti at The Julliard School in New York.

During the past few years, after playing violin for an ethnic dance performance ensemble, he has become very interested in incorperating various ethnic styles and tunes into arrangements and compositions for school string orchestras. In 2001 & 2003, Mark won a national competition sponsored by the New England String Ensemble in Boston, MA to write music which would characterize the pioneering spirit of some of the ethnic groups who settled in the New England region. In 2001, he went to Boston and worked with a number of school orchestras as they rehearsed movements from the piece entitled New England Suite. He attended some of their performances and the piece was very well received by both the performers and the audience. He found working with the students very rewarding and decided to focus more of his energy on arrangements for school string orchestras.

For the past six years, he has enjoyed teaching group and private violin lessons to elementary and secondary students. Their enthusiasm and willingness to learn is a constant inspiration for him to write new pieces for young performers.