Co-commissioned by the Canton, Colorado, South Carolina, and Louisville Symphony Orchestras, Juno Concerto was composed in 2015 by Béla Fleck. Named for his son Juno, “every note of the concerto is colored by the experience of being a new father, and how that has changed what is important to me as a person, as well as what I wish to express through music,” says Fleck, who became a father for the first time at 55, with his wife, musician Abigail Washburn.
WBAA's John Clare spoke with Fleck about the new concerto, and the differences between it and his first concerto for banjo, The Imposter.
In their interview, Béla revealed there is a third concerto for banjo and orchestra on the way as well! Juno Concerto is available for download, cd, and vinyl!
Fleck made his "classical connection" back in 2001 with Perpetual Motion, his critically acclaimed, two-time Grammy winning recording with John Williams, Joshua Bell, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, and others. Then in 2003, Fleck and Meyer debuted a double concerto for the Nashville Symphony which featured banjo and bass. These friends collaborated again with the Nashville Symphony in 2006 on The Melody of Rhythm, a triple concerto for banjo, bass, and tabla, this time with tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain. This then turned to Béla’s first "stand-alone" banjo concerto, The Impostor - commissioned by the National Symphony and premiered in 2011. It was followed by the companion documentary, How to Write a Banjo Concerto.