Program Books/Edgar Meyer

Edgar Meyer

Bassist

Hailed by the New Yorker as “…the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively un-chronicled history of his instrument,” Edgar Meyer’s uniqueness in the field was recognized when he became the only bassist to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in addition to a MacArthur Award. He was honored with his fifth Grammy Award in 2015 for his Bass & Mandolin recording with Thile. Edgar Meyer’s current projects include the recent recording entitled As We Speak with Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Rakesh Chaurasia, released in May 2023. The first leg of the As We Speak tour in April and May of that year preceded the album release, with the artist going out on tour again in November of 2023. Meyer recently completed a duo recording with Christian McBride, as well as a recording of his three concertos with The Knights, conducted by Eric Jacobsen and produced by Chris Thile. In June of 2023, to complete the concerto project, he recorded his Concertino for Bass and 14 Strings in the UK with the Scottish Ensemble led by Jonathan Morton, who commissioned and toured the piece with Meyer in spring of 2022. Additionally, Meyer was part of a five-composer group, each of whom composed a movement for a US premiere with Joshua Bell and the New York Philharmonic in September of 2023. Meyer is the subject of an ongoing documentary filmed and produced by Tessa Lark, Andrew Adair, and Michael Thurber.