Chris Thile’s ATTENTION! Comes to Orchestra Hall

In 2026 the Minnesota Orchestra has spotlighted some unexpected instruments—including concertos for timpani and Hammond organ—but an even more unusual piece is on its way to Orchestra Hall on July 31 and August 1: Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter-mandolinist Chris Thile’s autobiographical orchestral composition ATTENTION!, a “narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra.” Thile plays mandolin, sings, narrates and acts in this singular 40-minute work, which also includes featured parts for an additional vocal soloist, the orchestra’s concertmaster, a drum set player and a small chorus.

If you only know Thile as the host of the public radio variety show Live from Here, the successor to A Prairie Home Companion, then you’ve seen just a few dimensions of this founding member of the string bands Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers, and recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.” Thile has collaborated with numerous artists across the music spectrum, from Yo-Yo Ma to Fiona Apple to Brad Mehldau, and in recent years has increasingly crossed into the classical music world, soloing alongside ensembles such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony and National Symphony. His performances on July 31 and August 1 mark his Minnesota Orchestra debut.

Through four movements bearing whimsical titles such as Lord Starbucks and Carrie Freaking Fisher, the genre-defying ATTENTION! tells stories of unusual events and encounters from Thile’s life, using the composer’s own original text. The narrative culminates in an encounter with the late actress Carrie Fisher—Princess Leia of Star Wars fame. Thile and the New York-based orchestra The Knights performed the world premiere of ATTENTION! at the Tanglewood festival on June 29, 2023.

Background from the composer-soloist

Without spoiling the contents of ATTENTION! much further, Thile has offered this background and summary of the piece’s creation.

“I adore orchestras. Whether scaled up for grandeur, or down for intimacy, nothing makes me prouder to be human than hearing a stage full of highly skilled orchestral musicians practicing their craft together. It’s magic, and it’s something I’ve been desperate to participate in since the early aughts, when a hero of mine, Edgar Meyer, walked me through the score of a violin concerto he wrote for another hero of mine, Hilary Hahn. In the late aughts I wrote a mandolin concerto, but after performing it quite a bit for a year or so with some truly lovely orchestras, I realized that it was basically the musical equivalent of fan fiction (like I’m tempted to rename it ‘Bartók meets Adès for coffee at Edgar’s’). So, I went back to admiring orchestral music from afar, even as I continued to monitor my inner ear for something that might justify another attempt.

“A year or two ago, a tantalizing text from my pal, Eric Jacobsen (‘Thile, whatever you wanna do with orchestra, we can make it happen!’) prompted more pro-active monitoring and I started hearing bits of what would eventually become ATTENTION! I was confused at first, ’cause these little aural visions included not just mandolin and orchestra, but singing and talking as well. Whoa, ok…fun. Further dreaming led to the conviction that there should be an actual story, not just loosely related vignettes (which has pretty much been my M.O. on long form pieces with vocals up to this point).

“But what story? I’ve always loved writing songs based on short stories, so I started there, widened the search to essays, then read a bunch of plays, but every time I got excited about something, a nagging little voice (probably remembering my last orchestral piece) would say ‘Yeah, but why would you be the one to musicalize this story?’ Ugh. Fair. Ok, fine then: what is a story I like to tell about something that happened to me that my friends seem to like hearing? Ah ha! This one, hands down, no contest. If you’ve ever had a couple rounds with me at a good cocktail bar, chances are I’ve trotted it out, and the thought of turning it into a piece of orchestral music got my inner ear cranking like never before. It’s a ridiculous story, but it’s 100% true, and the more I’ve worked on the telling of it, the more aware I’ve become of what a profound impact the whole experience had on me as a person who loves to make things and show them to other people.”

The lyrics of ATTENTION! are available at christhile.com/attention—but Thile recommends “only using it when my diction isn’t up to snuff (I’m working on it, swear to God!).”

Instrumentation: solo mandolin and voice, additional solo voice, solo violin and small mixed chorus with orchestra comprising 2 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (1 doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, bass trombone, timpani, drum set and strings