Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn

Grammy Award®-winning banjo virtuosos Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn will perform at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) for the first time, as part of a national tour, on March 8, 2023.

Béla Fleck is a sixteen-time Grammy Award®-winner who has taken the banjo across multiple genres, and Abigail Washburn is a singer-songwriter and clawhammer banjo player who re-radicalised the banjo by combining it with Far East culture and sounds.

The iconic duo known as “the king and queen of the banjo” (Paste Magazine), met at a square dance, began collaborating musically and eventually fell in love. Over the years, they played together most notably in the Sparrow Quartet alongside Ben Sollee and Casey Driessen, in addition to performing solo shows.

From writing concertos for full symphony orchestra, exploring the banjo’s African roots, to jazz duos with Chick Corea, Béla Fleck is often touted as the world’s premier banjo player. Washburn has the earthy sophistication of a postmodern, old-time singer-songwriter who has drawn critical acclaim for her solo albums.

On stage, Fleck and Washburn perform pieces from their Grammy-winning self-titled debut record (2016) alongside works from Echo in the Valley (2017). Their performances showcase America’s rich banjo heritage through to music that feels wildly innovative and familiar at the same time.

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