About
18-time Grammy winner Béla Fleck—the world’s premier banjo virtuoso and a celebrated musical adventurer—has both explored his instrument’s complex global history and unlocked the breadth of its possibilities. For over 30 years, he has led Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, the groundbreaking quartet inspired by jazz, funk, bluegrass and beyond. He has written and performed three banjo concertos and traced the African origins of the banjo with the award-winning 2009 documentary Throw Down Your Heart. Collaborators include Abigail Washburn, the Brooklyn Rider String Quartet, Chris Thile, The Blind Boys of Alabama, McCoy Tyner, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer, and Rakesh Chaurasia. Fleck returns to the Virginia Arts Festival with his latest project, featuring acclaimed harpist Edmar Castañeda and drummer Antonio Sanchez for an innovative and dynamic fusion of sounds.
