Interview: Forrest O'Connor, Musician and Entrepreneur

Forrest O’Connor is the co-founder and CEO of Concert Window, a company that delivers live concert webcasts from top-notch music venues around the United States. Previously, he served as president of the Harvard College American Music Association, for which he produced concerts and workshops featuring Rosanne Cash, Bela Fleck, Alison Brown, Roy Hargrove, Edgar Meyer, Sam Bush, and Chris Thile. A mandolinist and composer, Forrest has performed on Public Radio International’s The World and WGBH’s A Celtic Sojourn as well as in venues throughout the Boston area, and his chamber piece, Homage to the Old Mill, was premiered by Harvard University’s Brattle Street Chamber Players in October 2009. In May 2010, Forrest graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in sociomusicology from Harvard, where he received a Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for his thesis on F-5 mandolin design.

 
THE DAP

You grew up in Nashville. How has Music City contributed to your love of music?

FORREST O’CONNOR

The pervasiveness of music in Nashville is unparalleled. It seems like every teacher, doctor, retail salesperson, and next-door neighbor is involved in music in some way or another, so it is impossible to live there and not feel its presence and significance. On top of that, my family was (and still is) very involved in the industry. When I was born, my dad was a major country session fiddler, so I grew up around many of the best musicians (especially instrumentalists) in town. I think that if you grow up around high-powered, talented people in any field – be it music, sports, business, tech, etc. – there’s a good chance you’ll develop a deep interest in, or at least a deep appreciation for, that field.

THE DAP

Tell us about The Hay Brigade. When will the world be able to hear more from them?

FORREST O’CONNOR

It might be quite a while! Both Duncan (fiddler) and Nicky (bassist) are embarking on successful performing careers of their own, so they are often out of town. Dan Gurney and I could follow suit in the next few years, at which point we will hopefully have a Hay Brigade reunion.

THE DAP

You play the mandola, studied sociomusicology at Harvard and were a member of The Hay Brigade. Do you still perform, record or compose music?

FORREST O’CONNOR

Whenever I have free time, I write music. In the last year and a half, I’ve written somewhere around 30 songs and I have no intention of stopping as long as I continue to come up with musical ideas I like. Although I haven’t performed much over the last couple years, I hope to begin doing so again this fall.

THE DAP

American folk music can be defined in different ways and with regard to many different cultural groups. What is a unifying aspect of American folk music and what attracts you to it?

FORREST O’CONNOR

I think the most unifying aspect of American folk music is the culture of supportiveness and dedication that has developed around it. Folk music fans are almost always very loyal to the music and the musicians. The music is also educational, since it is intertwined with the colorful history of this country. It offers striking glimpses into the lives of rural dwellers, outcasts, prisoners, laborers, the impoverished, and the heartbroken in a very honest yet often ironic manner.

Folk music (including bluegrass) also features my two favorite musical phenomena. First, its melodies are usually accessible, yet it isn’t “simple” – there is always a level of sophistication in its rhythm, texture, or technique. (I would contrast this with a lot of the mainstream music I hear today.) The second phenomenon is much more specific: modern bluegrass improvisation. To me, there’s nothing more musically exciting than a fast, clean bluegrass mandolin solo that tastefully incorporates ideas and maneuvers from jazz and rock.

THE DAP 

At Harvard you were the president of the Harvard College American Music Association. What was it like to work with such noteworthy artists as Rosanne Cash and Sam Bush?

FORREST O’CONNOR

All of the artists we brought to Harvard were genuinely nice people and they all loved performing for, and being around, young people. Whenever I’m around someone like Rosanne or Sam, I enter into a state of hyperawareness, in which everything the artist says becomes, at least temporarily, very significant. Not that I regard these artists as superior to anyone else – indeed, they probably get sick of people treating them that way – but I do know that they have each followed very distinct paths to success and musical fulfillment and thus have unique perspectives to offer.

THE DAP

Tell us a little bit about Concert Window.

FORREST O’CONNOR

Concert Window manifests our vision for the future of the music industry, in which people everywhere will be able to tune into live concerts at great venues, and musicians will make money because of it. We are currently webcasting from Club Passim (Cambridge, MA), Le Poisson Rouge (New York, NY), Tupelo Music Hall (Londonderry, NH), the Berklee Performance Center (Boston, MA), and the Longy School of Music (Cambridge, MA), and we’re in the process of partnering with a number of other wonderful venues around the country. It won’t be too long before HD live concert webcasting becomes a regular source of entertainment, and we are fortunate to be at the forefront of that development.

THE DAP

There’s something about the live musical performance that is raw and exciting. What is it for you, and the users of Concert Window, that makes live music so interesting, so invigorating, so necessary?

FORREST O’CONNOR

I think the excitement of a live performance is rooted in two things: first, its combination of the permanent (written/recorded songs) with the ephemeral (unique renditions of those songs); second, the proximity of the artist (the charismatic figure) with a bunch of figures that either love or judge the artist (or do both). You don’t get anything close to this dynamic in an album or a movie or a painting.

Also, at a live performance, you’re obligated to appreciate the moment in order to appreciate the art. If you arrive ten minutes late and miss an incredible rendition of a song, oh well!

THE DAP

What’s next for you – musically or entrepreneurially? 

FORREST O’CONNOR

Concert Window will remain my chief focus for a while, but I would definitely like to begin performing the songs I’ve written sometime in the near future. When I do, I’ll be using a mandola (a bigger, lower version of the mandolin) rather than a guitar, both because I know how to play it and because it’s a fresh sound that still supports vocals well.