Chris Thile

Acclaimed Grammy Award-winning mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and MacArthur Fellow recipient of the prestigious “Genius Grant,” Chris Thile is a multifaceted musical talent, described by the UK’s Guardian as “that rare being an all-round musician,” and hailed by NPR as a “genre-defying musical genius.” Thile is a founding member of the highly influential string bands Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek and has collaborated with luminaries from Yo-Yo Ma to Fiona Apple to Brad Mehldau. For four years, Thile hosted public radio favorite Live from Here with Chris Thile (formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion). With his broad outlook, Thile creates a distinctly American canon and a new musical aesthetic for performers and audiences alike, giving the listener “one joyous arc, with the linear melody and vertical harmony blurring into a single web of gossamer beauty” (New York Times).

Over the last couple of years, Thile toured with Nickel Creek in support of the critically acclaimed 2023 release Celebrants. Most recently, he has been captivating audiences with a playfully ambitious biographical composition entitled ATTENTION! (a narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra) and has been focused on the production of a new musical variety show, The Energy Curfew Music Hour. Created with Claire Coffee and featuring Punch Brothers, the first season is available on all podcast platforms, with Season Two exclusively out on Audible.

The wide-ranging program of Thile’s 2025–26 solo performances will feature selections from his acclaimed solo recordings of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas—including the second volume released last autumn—alongside his signature post-genre blend of compositional rigor, folksy stagecraft, and improvisational brilliance.