This Wednesday the Wisconsin Union Theater will host a performance by mandolinist Chris Thile and double bassist Edgar Meyer, in support of their new album Bass & Mandolin.
Thile, an influential virtuoso equally versed in bluegrass and classical music, is known for his work with Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers, as well as numerous solo releases spanning a career of 20 years. In 2013, he released an album of sonatas and partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach, produced by Meyer.
Meyer, a legend in the bluegrass, jazz, and classical worlds, has collaborated with a comprehensive list of influential members of the bluegrass community, including Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Alison Krauss and James Taylor. He is an avid composer and multi-instrumentalist.
Both Thile and Meyer are MacArthur Fellows—a program that awards grants of over $500,000, paid out over the span of 5 years, to 20-25 United States citizens in any field who “show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work.” According to the MacArthur Fellowship website, it is meant to “celebrate and inspire” today’s greatest creative minds.
Bass & Mandolin is not the first collaboration between these two artists. They released an eponymous album in 2008. In 2011, they collaborated with world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma on an album entitled The Goat Rodeo Sessions. In addition, they recorded an album with banjoist Béla Fleck, entitled Perpetual Motion, for which they won two Grammy awards.
The show starts at 8 p.m. in Shannon Hall of the Wisconsin Union Theater. Tickets range from $25 to $42 for the general public. A limited number of student tickets are available for $10 with a valid student ID.
