JACKSON, Wyo. — What Chris Thile can accomplish with the eight coupled strings of a mandolin is mind blowing. From bluegrass to Bach, Nickel Creek to The Punch Brothers, and host of A Prairie Home Companion, the Grammy-winning virtuoso will take stage as a soloist on Wednesday at the Center Theater. Ticket availability is slim.
Having seen Thile perform a few times in different scenarios, he’s more than just a great mandolinist; he’s a rare, all-around great musician that is at once fiery, improvisational and truly genre-bending. It’s no wonder he is a MacArthur Fellow recipient of the prestigious “Genius Grant.” Check out his collaborations with Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma, Bela Fleck, or simply hit play on a Punch Brothers record using any streaming service.
So what’s to expect from a man of many tunes at his disposal? Fiddle tunes, jazz, classical, children’s songs? It’s all on the table, though he’s certainly been incorporating Bach’s “Sonata in C Major for Solo Violin” at recent performances as well as other pieces from his November 2025 release, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 2, the follow-up to his first volume which came out in 2013. His first true solo record, Laysongs (2021), has also been a source for setlists.
“Interacting with this body of work made by a fellow human being, albeit a long time ago, makes me proud to be human,” Thile told NPR in November, speaking to the Bach pieces. “Like, look at this beauty that a human being is capable of making.”
The Center Presents Chris Thile, 7 p.m. Wednesday Jan. 14 at the Center Theater. $63-$123. JHCenterfortheArts.org.
