Chris Thile, mandolin

Virginia Arts Festival

The Chris Thile with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra performance originally scheduled for May 20, 2023 has been rescheduled to June 13, 2024.

These performances have been postponed while Chris Thile recovers from vocal strain related to a recent illness.

All tickets for the original performance will be honored, so please hold on to your tickets. If you are unable to attend the new performance date, please contact your original point of purchase.

Eric Jacobsen, conductor

MacArthur Fellow and Grammy® Award-winning mandolinist, singer, and songwriter Chris Thile, who The Guardian calls “that rare being: an all-round musician who can settle into any style, from bluegrass to classical,” and NPR calls a “genre-defying musical genius,” is a founding member of the critically acclaimed bands Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek. 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).

As described by the composer, Chris Thile, “this new piece (which I promise will have a real corker of a title by the time you hear it!) is a big ol’ narrative song cycle/mandolin concerto that tells, plays, and sings the true story of the time I attempted to impress a Starbucks executive and accidentally met Carrie Fisher as a result. It’s a DOOZY, and I’m thrilled beyond expression to perform it in collaboration with your intrepid Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Virginia Arts Festival”.

Co-presented with Virginia Arts Festival and Virginia Symphony Orchestra

This production was made possible through a generous gift from the Susan Goode Performance Fund