Andrew Bird brings 'The Mysterious Production of Eggs' to Orchestra Hall, with the CSO behind him

The Chicago-area violinist and whistler makes his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut next Friday, playing his breakout album in full with orchestral arrangements.

For years Andrew Bird has built orchestras out of loops, one violin and a pedalboard, layering pizzicato and whistling until one man sounds like a section. Next Friday he gets the real thing. Bird plays Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center on Friday, November 13, at 7 p.m., backed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are sold through cso.org.

The CSO bills it as Bird's debut with the orchestra, and the program is built around an anniversary. The first half is a full performance of *The Mysterious Production of Eggs*, which turns 20, in orchestral arrangements. After that comes what the CSO calls a suite of fan-favorite tunes from his nearly 30-year catalog. The orchestra has also scheduled a second night, Saturday, November 14, for anyone who can't make Friday.

The pairing was announced in February, and WBEZ's coverage made the obvious point: Bird is a Chicago-area native, and this is a homecoming to the city's most formal room. Our records back that up. Bird has played Chicago more than any other market, with 76 shows on file. Most of those were in clubs, theaters and holiday runs, not on the stage the CSO calls home.

*Eggs* is a good choice for this treatment. It's an album built from layered loops, and repetition is exactly what an orchestra can open up. A violin loop becomes a string section and a whistled line gets a woodwind answer. Those are the textures he has been imitating on his own for two decades.

For twenty years Andrew Bird has faked an orchestra with loops. On the 13th he gets a real one.

The second half should be looser. A suite drawn from his whole catalog gives the arrangers room to pick songs that suit strings, and gives Bird room to do what he does in any room: stop, tune, explain where a song came from, then go somewhere unexpected with it. The CSO page doesn't list the tunes, and neither will we. Part of the appeal is finding out on the night.

On practicalities: Orchestra Hall is at 220 S. Michigan Ave., across from the Art Institute. The CSO's own page lists a 7:30 p.m. start, so confirm the time on your ticket before you leave. For a crowd that has spent years following Bird around the Chicago club circuit, it's a chance to hear the music in a hall built for exactly this kind of sound.

Some hometown shows are about nostalgia. This one is about scale. Bird has spent his career making the most of very little on stage, and next Friday he gets an orchestra.

Sources: Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Andrew Bird and the CSO (cso.org); WBEZ: Andrew Bird to make Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut (wbez.org); JamBase show listing (jambase.com); Andrew Bird - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Symphony Center - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)