Chris Thile joined the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for the New York premiere performance of his Mandolin Concerto in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium on Saturday, following Thursday's performance at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Also on the program were Copland's Appalachian Spring as well as two world premieres: Clint Needham's When We Forget and Paul Chihara's arrangement of Bernstein's Suite for Small Orchestra from Trouble In Tahiti.

The New York Times's Steve Smith, in a preview of the concert, had described Chris Thile as "a mandolin virtuoso known for his work in the exhilarating progressive-bluegrass band Punch Brothers." Smith's New York Times colleague Allan Kozinn, in his review of Saturday's concert, wonders if the mandolin is "about to have its moment as a classical solo instrument," given that the "contemporary repertory is colorful and growing," as with Thile's Mandolin Concerto. He calls Thile "the instrument’s brightest star at the moment."

Thile "knows how to surprise" in his writing, says Kozinn: "chord progressions that a less imaginative composer would have pushed along predictable paths invariably took unexpected turns, as did the exchanges between the mandolin and the orchestra ... As fresh as the music sounded, it also had an appealing naturalness."

Kozinn goes on to explain that the mandolin's solo line "is built on Mr. Thile’s more subtle brand of virtuosity—a blend of fluid melody, dazzling speed and a command of timbre that made the most of the mandolin’s native wiry sound but also used mellower, bell-like tones closer to those of a harp."

Read the complete concert review at nytimes.com.

Chris Thile has two solo dates in the coming weeks—at the Savannah Music Festival on April 3 and San Francisco's Herbst Theatre April 8—before he and his fellow Punch Brothers launch the next leg of their tour featuring songs from their latest Nonesuch album, Who's Feeling Young Now? For additional details and ticket links, go to nonesuch.com/on-tour.