It’s a rare few who are hailed as “the most remarkable virtuoso” in the history of their instrument, but bassist Edgar Meyer—who received such praise from The New Yorker—is indeed one of the rare few, having won seven Grammy Awards, an Avery Fisher Prize, and a MacArthur “Genius” Award, among other honors. Meyer stands out not just as a world-class performer but as a first-rate composer, too, having contributed significantly to the double bass repertoire in genres that range from jazz and bluegrass to contemporary classical music.

This summer, on the season-opening program of July 19 & 20, Meyer returns to the Festival for a can’t-miss musical collaboration that reunites him with violinist Daniel Phillips and New York Philharmonic Principal Cellist Carter Brey, who together play a work they premiered at the Festival in 1986: Meyer’s String Trio No. 1, his first major composition. Maintaining a seminal place in the repertoire all these years later, the trio still receives rave reactions, with the Boston Classical Review—following a recent performance by Meyer—noting that the work’s “folksy air and conversational aspect remain fresh and vital” and that “the finale’s wild moto perpetuo is as brilliant a showcase for this instrumentation as any in the canon.”

Meyer first immersed himself in the canon at the age of five, when he began taking double bass lessons from his father in his hometown of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Meyer went on to earn his bachelor’s degree at the Indiana University School of Music (known today as the Jacobs School of Music) and quickly made a name for himself as both a performer and composer. Meyer’s especially well known for his high-profile collaborations with such artists as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Joshua Bell, fiddle player Mark O’Connor, banjo player Béla Fleck, and mandolin player Chris Thile, among many others, and for such Grammy-winning albums as The Goat Rodeo Sessions, Appalachian Journey, Perpetual Motion, Bass & Mandolin, and As We Speak. Meyer’s music has been played by such ensembles as the Emerson String Quartet and New York Philharmonic, and he serves as a faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and as an adjust professor at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music in Nashville.

In addition to performing his String Trio No. 1 on the Festival’s July 19 & 20 concerts, Meyer also plays music by Berwald and Schulhoff on July 22 and Vivaldi on July 25.