Edgar Meyer | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | November 24, 1960 |
| Origin | Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instrument(s) | Double bass |
| Labels | |
| Website | edgarmeyer |
Edgar Meyer (born October 25, 1960) is an American bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. He has won seven Grammy Awards and been nominated ten times.[1]
Meyer is a member of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival's "house band" super group, along with Sam Bush, Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, and Bryan Sutton. His collaborators have spanned a wide range of musical styles and talents; among them are Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Yo-Yo Ma, Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Chris Thile, Mike Marshall, Mark O'Connor, Christian McBride, and Emanuel Ax.
Meyer grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He learned to play the double bass from his father, Edgar Meyer Sr., who directed the string orchestra program for the local public school system. Meyer later went on to Indiana University to study with Stuart Sankey.[2]
As a composer, Meyer's music has been premiered and recorded by Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Hilary Hahn, and the Emerson String Quartet, among others. The Nashville Symphony and the Aspen Music Festival and School commissioned his first purely orchestral work which was premiered by the Nashville Symphony in March 2017.[3] Additionally, Bravo! Vail and The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields commissioned an Overture for Violin and Orchestra that was premiered by Joshua Bell and ASMF in June 2017.[4]
In 2011, Meyer collaborated on The Goat Rodeo Sessions with Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, and Chris Thile. The album won two 2013 Grammy Awards. Meyer was honored with his fifth Grammy Award[5] in 2015 for his Bass & Mandolin, recording with Thile. Meyer recorded a collection of Bach trios with Thile and Yo-Yo Ma, released in April 2017.[6] In June 2020, the same group of musicians who recorded The Goat Rodeo Sessions released a second album entitled Not Our First Goat Rodeo.
Meyer is Artist in Residence at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music[7] and is on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.[8] At Curtis, Meyer taught Punch Brothers bassist and composer Paul Kowert.[9]
Edgar Meyer is married to violinist Connie (Cornelia) Heard, and they have one son, George Meyer, who also plays the violin.
Solo work
With Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O'Connor
With Béla Fleck
With Chris Thile
Miscellaneous collaborations
