Janna Hymes, artistic director of the Carmel Symphony Orchestra, has long wanted to perform with bassist Edgar Meyer.

“Edgar Meyer is a multiple Grammy winner and someone I’ve looked up to for years,” Hymes said. “We were students at the Aspen Music Festival many years ago and his experience as a versatile and virtuoso musician is legendary.”

Edgar Meyer will perform in the Carmel Symphony Orchestra’s Masterworks 5 concert at 7:30 p.m. on April 23 at the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel. (Photo courtesy of the Carmel Symphony Orchestra)

Meyer, who won five Grammy Awards, was scheduled to perform with the Carmel Symphony Orchestra on March 14, 2020, but the performance was canceled due to pandemic shutdowns.

Meyer will finally appear with the CSO at 7:30 p.m. on April 23 in the Masterworks 5 concert at the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel.

“We perform regularly and keep our fingers crossed that the pandemic is behind us, but we are cautiously optimistic,” Hymes said. “This concert means a lot because of the music on the program and the quality of the playing that the orchestra has delivered lately. We have played in different ways over the past two years and now that our schedules have aligned, we can finally present this concert with Edgar Meyer.

Meyer will perform during “Bottesini Concerto No 2 in B minor” and “Edgar Meyer Concerto in Double Bass in D.”

“Several years ago Edgar released a self-titled solo recording on which he wrote and recorded all the music, incorporating piano, guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo, gamba and double bass – simply a remarkable display of musical mastery”, Hymes mentioned.

Meyer said he didn’t have a favorite track in the Masterworks concert.

“I’m just happy to play,” he said.

Meyer said it’s been busier than ever in the past six to eight months as more concert venues return to normal hours.

“I’m ready for a break,” he said.

Meyer had several memorable collaborations with singer-songwriter Chris Thile, a duet with Béla Fleck; a quartet with Joshua Bell, Sam Bush and Mike Marshall; a trio with Fleck and Marshall; and a trio with Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O’Connor.

“Collaboration is fundamental in my musical life,” Meyer said. “I could give a hundred examples, but I will stick to a few. If a person is trying to improve their rhythm, it can help to do basic things like recording exercises and working with a metronome. However, there will come a time when it seems like everything is “in time”, but it doesn’t seem right. Everyone has blind spots of this nature, and the most effective remedy for it is to play with people who have better feelings than you. Blind spots will come to the surface in this situation, and one is forced to correct things that are not comfortable.

“Also, music has been a 61-year educational process for me, and the most important teachers have been the amazing musicians I’ve worked with.”

Meyer, a native of Tulsa, Okla., graduated from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

“I loved going to school in Bloomington,” Meyer said. “I had a great time and at the same time I learned a lot.”

Selections planned for Masterworks 5 include familiar pieces “The Entertainer” by Scott Joplin; “Lullaby for Strings” and “An American in Paris” by George Gershwin; and “Pirates of the Caribbean” by Hans Zimmer.

To learn more, visit carmelsymphony.org and edgarmeyer.com.