Vail Series presents Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer with Rakesh Chaurasia

As the Vail Series celebrates 40 years of welcoming world-class performers to Denison, we begin our season with a nod to the past. Once again, we are excited to welcome Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer with Rakesh Chaurasia to the stage. NPR stated they are “Simply the best at what they do….they’re world-class masters of the banjo, the bass fiddle and the tabla (who) conquered mere technical prowess long ago.” There’s a bit of the sorcerer in Fleck (banjo), Hussain (tabla), Meyer (double bass), and their special guest Chaurasia (bansuri-Indian flute). Most musicians hope at most for proficiency in their chosen form, but these gentlemen move from bluegrass to Western classical to Indian classical to jazz, transmuting genres into something uniquely their own as though they’d gotten hold of the alchemist’s tools that legendarily changed lead into gold. In any case, it’s music that transcends description, ineffable, indefinable, and very beautiful.