Chris Thile and Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The mandolin is a beautiful instrument that is, in my opinion, severely underplayed in the music industry, but Christ Thile’s incredibly use of the instrument to support his solo performances absolutely blew me away at the recent concert. He made his was to centre stage and stood in front of the microphone before tuning the mandolin before introducing himself and then launching into his set.

He opened with an instrumental piece that was written in an experimental folk style. I hadn’t heard it on any of his recordings, and it didn’t look like anyone in the audience had either, but the crowd erupted into applause when he finished. With so many records under his belt, I wasn’t sure how he was going to select a set list, but he did so magnificently. When he played the title track from his Grammy Award winning album, True Live Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe, he got everyone singing along, and invited us to stand up to dance along.

As well as his instrumental skills, his distinctive voice contrasts beautifully with his mandolin, and the sound that they create together is exciting and original.

To be honest, it is quite sad and a bit embarrassing to say that my generation (the millennials) do not appreciate classical music as much as they should. There is this apparent stuffiness that is included with the idea of attending a classical music concert; that it will be dependently boring. But if you get the opportunity to see a great orchestra, in a great venue, it is absolutely life changing. It becomes more than just a show, it becomes a full experience that you will always look back on and truly appreciate all that it gave you.

As you take your seat, you can see the orchestra already set up, except the chairs are empty, and then the lights dim a little bit, and the musicians start to file in, with the last person being the director. The orchestra gets settled in, and starts to tune up, and then the conductor calls everyone to order, and then it starts. The strings start to vibrate and fill the entire venue, and suddenly you are completely surrounded by the music. It hits your mind and your soul, and you fall under an inexplicable spell. Completely entranced, you lose yourself in the absolute beauty until you are snapped back to reality at with the applause of the ending of the show.