By Rick Morwick
Edgar Meyer is a world-renowned double bassist whose mastery of the large, bowed string instrument is almost as much a visual treat as it is an auditory delight.
Carmel Symphony Orchestra Music Director Janna Hymes can’t wait for the audience to see for itself when Meyer joins the CSO as guest soloist for “Journey Into Jazz” March 14 in the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel.
Part of the “Musical Journeys with Janna Masterworks Series,” the concert begins at 7:30 p.m. A “Meet the Music” program will be conducted in the Palladium Hall at 6:30 p.m. prior to the performance.
“He’s really a virtuoso on the bass,” said Hymes, a longtime friend of Meyer. “He plays it almost like a small instrument. It’s just extraordinary how he’s able to manipulate himself around that instrument, which is pretty cumbersome. It’s a pretty big instrument, and he plays in such a way that it’s light, it’s beautiful, it’s clean. So, I’m pretty excited about this.”
A lifelong bass player who began playing at age 5, Meyer also is a composer and visiting professor of double bass at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He will perform two solos, including his own composition, “Concerto for Double Bass in D,” that will be part of a mix with the CSO that includes Joplin’s “The Entertainer”; Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” and “Lullaby for String Orchestra”; Gould’s “Pavanne from Symphony No. 2”; and Klaus Badelt/Hans Zimmer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
“It’s amazing to be a bass soloist,” Hymes said. “We don’t hear about that instrument being in the forefront as a soloist very often. Whether it’s classical or jazz, it’s usually part of an ensemble or a group, so to have somebody of this caliber on that instrument is pretty interesting in itself.
“I think the audience will really enjoy it.”
For more or for tickets, visit CarmelSymphony.org.
