Grammy-winning Oak Ridge bassist Edgar Meyer plays Saturday

Edgar Meyer, the world-renowned bassist and composer, will start this year’s ORCMA Chamber Music Season with a Saturday night performance.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.

Meyer grew up in Oak Ridge, where he learned to play the double bass when he was five. He was taught by his father, the late Edgar Meyer Sr., who directed the string orchestra program for the Oak Ridge Schools. Meyer later went on to Indiana University to study with Stuart Sankey.

“Meyer is noted for achieving virtuosity on an instrument of unusual technical difficulty, and has performed music originally composed for other instruments, such as Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites, which he recorded,” a press release said. “He has also composed a number of classical works, including two double bass concertos, a string quintet, a double concerto for bass and cello, and a violin concerto.”

Tickets for Saturday’s concert are $35, and they are available at TNBank and Appalachian Glass and Frame in Oak Ridge, and Liz-Beth Co. in Knoxville, a press release said.

In 2000, Meyer won the Avery Fisher Prize, given once every few years to classical instrumentalists for outstanding achievement. In 2002, he was named a MacArthur Fellow, which included a substantial monetary award. Meyer collaborated with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O’Connor on the widely acclaimed Sony Classical disc “Appalachia Waltz,” which reached the top of the U.S. pop charts for 16 weeks. Meyer collaborated again with Ma and O’Connor on “Appalachian Journey,” earning a Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album.

On Meyer’s self-titled 2006 Sony Classical release, he performs accompanied only by himself on a wide variety of instruments besides his usual piano and double bass, including guitar, banjo, viola da gamba, mandolin, and dobro.

In 2006, Meyer premiered a piece for double bass and piano, performed with Emanuel Ax. He also works with pianist Amy Dorfman, his longtime collaborator for solo recitals, featuring both classical repertoire and his own compositions.

Meyer’s latest gigs are the Goat Rodeo Sessions, recently performed at the Hollywood Bowl and Tanglewood. In January 2012, Meyer, and other instrumentalists played their first Goat Rodeo concert at the House of Blues in Boston. The show was streamed in real time to movie theaters all over the United States, including Oak Ridge.

For information about the Meyer concert and all ORCMA series concerts and tickets, visit www.orcma.org or contact the ORCMA office at (865) 483-5569.

TNBank is at  401 S. Illinois Ave. and Appalachian Glass and Frame is in Grove Center in Oak Ridge, and Liz-Beth Co. is in the Gallery at 9211 Park West Boulevard in Knoxville, the press release said.