The internationally renowned Oak Ridge bassist and composer Edgar Meyer, winner of four Grammy awards, will open the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s Chamber Music Series with a one-man concert at 7:30 p.m. today (Saturday) at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center. (Submitted photo)
The internationally renowned Oak Ridge bassist and composer Edgar Meyer, winner of four Grammy awards, will open the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s Chamber Music Series with a one-man concert at 7:30 p.m. today (Saturday) at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.
Meyer, who grew up in Oak Ridge and graduated from Oak Ridge High School, plays a unique role in the contemporary music scene, with compositions and performances in both classical and jazz traditions, and even in some remarkable combinations of both. He was hailed by the “New Yorker” as “…the most remarkable virtuoso in the…history of his instrument.”
As a solo classical bassist, Meyer has released a concerto album with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra featuring Bottesini’s “Gran Duo” with well-known violinist Joshua Bell, Meyer’s own “Double Concerto for Bass and Cello” with internationally renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Bottesini’s “Bass Concerto No. 2,” and Meyer’s “Concerto in D for Bass.”
Previously, he released an album of three of Bach’s “Unaccompanied Suites for Cello.” Meyer also performed with the Boston Symphony the premiere of his “Double Concerto” with Yo-Yo Ma.
In 2009, “The Melody of Rhythm,” a collection of trio pieces that Meyer co-composed with Béla Fleck and Zakir Hussain, was released. The album also featured their triple concerto for double bass, banjo, and tabla (small drums played often in India).
The triple concerto was commissioned and performed by the three musicians for the opening of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville. It was later recorded with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin. Afterward, the trio toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Meyer joined with Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Mark O’Connor to make the album, “Appalachian Journey,” which received the first Grammy for Meyer. This album was the follow-up to Meyer’s “Appalachia Waltz,” which was a top hit on the U.S. pop music chart for 16 weeks.
Meyer’s latest musical adventure has been with Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile (mandolin), and Stuart Duncan (fiddle). They have expanded the musical horizons from high-spirited Celtic and bluegrass styles to jazzy improvisations and beyond. These are the much-heralded Goat Rodeo Sessions, performed last month at the Hollywood Bowl, Tanglewood, and elsewhere to sold-out audiences.
What could top a Yo-Yo Ma “review” of Edgar? Here are excerpts from an Aug. 10 interview with Ma by Jeremy Goodwin of the Boston Globe, following the Tanglewood concert:
Goodwin: Before the Goat Rodeo Sessions, you previously worked with Edgar Meyer on the albums “Appalachia Waltz” and “Appalachian Journey.” What incites your curiosity about this kind of music?
Ma: How often do you work with people who are master virtuosos and also master improvisers and composers, who know at least two musical traditions unbelievably well? That’s what we’re working with here. It’s just extraordinary when you have people who can actually show on their instruments what they’re thinking at any moment, without a delay. As soon as you think it, it gets transferred in your neuromusculature immediately into sound. I think those are extraordinary abilities.
Goodwin: That’s a package you don’t necessarily run across in the classical world?
Ma: It’s just rare anywhere, to have a bunch of people this talented who really like one another, who are not competitive with one another, who really appreciate each other’s qualities. Working with such incredibly inventive, original people, it’s the thrill of my life.
The ORCMA 2013-2014 Chamber Series also includes four other outstanding performances. For information about all ORCMA series concerts and tickets, as well as for solo tickets for the Meyer concert, which cost $35 apiece, contact the ORCMA office at www.orcma.org or (865) 483-5569.
