“There’s the mandolin and then there’s the mandolin when Chris Thile puts it to work … Thile is stretching the limits of his instrument yet again … taking on Bach.” —NPR

“Wielding a plectrum with superhuman dexterity in the quicker movements … Thile also elicits a delicate clavichord-like sonority from the mandolin in the fugues and slower movements … This is extraordinary playing from an extraordinary musician.” —Gramophone

Nonesuch Records releases mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile’s Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 2 on November 7, 2025. The two-LP album comprises Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004; Sonata No. 3 in C major, BWV 1005; and Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006. For his second recording of Bach Violin Sonatas and Partitas, twelve years after the first volume, Chris Thile opted for a more personal approach to the revered master composer’s works. This time, he allowed himself to take liberties with the scores, which he recorded in multiple, somewhat untraditional, locations of personal significance: Reservoir Studios and Tompkins Square Park in New York City; Farrell Recital Hall at Murray State University in Murray, KY; and Blackberry Farm in Walland, TN. Two movements are available today—Menuets I and II from Partita No. 3 in E major and the Giga from Partita No. 2 in D minor—along with performance video for the latter movement, directed by Matthew Edginton. Limited-edition autographed prints are included with album orders from the Chris Thile Store and the Nonesuch Store.

Thile will perform works by Bach, along with other material, during an extensive international solo US tour this fall through spring 2026 (exact dates below). Six newly announced early April shows, in the northeast US and Ohio, are available for general sale beginning Friday, September 19 at 10am local time. Further tour information, including presale details, is available at christhile.com.

Thile says in his liner note, “Volume 1, which contained the first three of the Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, came out in 2013, and though I’m still proud of it, I can hear that I spent most of its development and execution worrying about whether BACH would like it … not the kind of concern I usually harbor when making music, original or otherwise.

“My mentor, Edgar Meyer, has shown me … [that] you practice Bach, like you practice yoga. Because it makes your life better. Because it makes the world around you seem like a better, happier place. Because communing with something THAT beautiful, made by a human being, continuing to be made and enjoyed by so many human beings, makes you proud to be human,” he continues.

“And so you practice it. As often as you can, everywhere you go. Your living room. Hotel room. Onstage before the rest of the band shows up for soundcheck. In an empty corner of an airport after a cancelled flight … the reason this record exists is that I love practicing Bach, and I wanted to try and share how that ongoing process feels and sounds to me,” Thile concludes. “Would he like it? Though I was tempted to capitalize ‘he’ just now, I’m trying not to care. Do I like it? Yes.”

MacArthur Fellow Chris Thile is the founding member of Punch Brothers, which a Boston Globe reviewer has called “the tightest, most impressive live band I have ever seen.” The group’s six Nonesuch albums are Punch, Antifogmatic, Who’s Feeling Young Now?, The Phosphorescent Blues, the Grammy-winning All Ashore, and their 2022 tribute to the late Tony Rice, Hell on Church Street.

Thile’s other Nonesuch releases include a duo album with guitarist Michael Daves, two records with bassist Edgar Meyer (one of which won a Grammy), a Bach album with Yo-Yo Ma and Meyer, a duet album with jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, and the T Bone Burnett–produced soundtrack to the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis. He was featured on Brad Mehldau’s Elliott Smith songbook album, Ride into the Sun, released this past August.

As a soloist, Thile has released seven previous albums—most recently Laysongs, an album featuring six original songs and three covers, all of which contextualize and banter with his ideas about spirituality. He spent his formative years as a member of the Grammy Award–winning, multi-platinum selling band Nickel Creek, which reunited in 2014 for its highest-charting album to date, A Dotted Line, on Nonesuch. Nickel Creek subsequently released Celebrants in 2023. For four years, Thile hosted public radio favorite Live from Here with Chris Thile (formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion).

Thile has been performing his playfully ambitious biographical composition ATTENTION! (a narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra) around the US since 2023. It tells the true story of a young Thile meeting Carrie Fisher at a rooftop bar in San Diego, transforming that moment into a larger meditation on ambition, identity, and the art of performance. Additionally, he has been focused on the production of a new musical variety show, The Energy Curfew Music Hour. Created with Claire Coffee and featuring Punch Brothers, season one is available on Audible and all podcasting platforms. Season two will be released this fall (details to be announced soon).

 

Chris Thile
Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 2

J.S. Bach: Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004

1. I. Allemanda — Studio session
2. II. Corrente — Studio session
3. III. Sarabanda — Studio session
4. IV. Giga — Studio session
5. V. Ciaccona — Studio and Hall sessions

J.S. Bach: Sonata No. 3 in C major, BWV 1005

6. I. Adagio — Studio session
7. II. Fuga — Park session
8. III. Largo — Farm session
9. IV. Allegro assai — Farm session

J.S. Bach: Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006

10. I. Preludio — Farm and Hall sessions
11. II. Loure — Studio session
12. III. Gavotte en rondeau — Studio session
13. IV. Menuet I and V. Menuet II — Hall session
14. VI. Bourrée — Park session
15. VII. Gigue — Park, Farm, and Studio sessions

Chris Thile, mandolin

Produced by Chris Thile
Recorded by Dave Sinko
Mixed by Joseph Lorge

 

Chris Thile Tour

2025:

October 9
Hodgson Concert Hall
Athens, GA

October 10
Memorial Hall
Chapel Hill, NC

October 11
Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA

October 12
Forbes Center for the Performing Arts
Harrisonburg, VA

October 14
Ascend Amphitheater
Nashville, TN
Chris Thile & Jacob Collier with Nashville Symphony

October 15
Koerner Hall
Toronto, ON

October 16
Smith Opera House
Geneva, NY

October 17
The Music Center at Strathmore
North Bethesda, MD

October 18
McCarter Theatre Center
Princeton, NJ

October 19
The 92nd Street Y
New York, NY

October 21
Hill Auditorium
Ann Arbor, MI
Chris Thile & Jacob Collier with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra

October 23
St. Cecilia Music Center
Grand Rapids, MI

October 24
Chicago Symphony Center
Chicago, IL

November 7
Le Brassin
Schiltigheim, France

November 8
Casa del Jazz
Rome, Italy

November 9
Teatro dell’Arte
Milan, Italy

November 10
Bflat
Cagliari, Italy

November 12
Cite de la Musique
Paris, France

November 13
Espace des Arts
Chalon-sur-Saône, France

November 14
Theater of Montbéliard
Montbéliard, France

November 15
EFG London Jazz Festival
London, England

November 16
St George’s
Bristol, UK

November 17
The Stoller Hall
Manchester, UK

November 19
National Concert Hall
Dublin, Ireland

November 21
Villanos del Jazz
Madrid, Spain

November 22
Barcelona Jazz Fest
Barcelona, Spain

2026:

January 14
Jackson Hole Center for the Arts
Jackson, WY

January 15
Newman Center for the Performing Arts
Denver, CO

January 16
The Englert Theatre
Iowa City, IA

January 17
Historic Temple Theatre of Viroqua
Viroqua, WI

January 18
Pantages Theatre
Minneapolis, MN

January 20
The Sheldon Concert Hall
St. Louis, MO

January 22
Cullen Theater at the Wortham Center
Houston, TX

January 23
Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
San Antonio, TX

January 24
The Paramount Theatre
Austin, TX

February 12
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
Kansas City, MO
ATTENTION! with the Kansas City Symphony

February 25
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
Scottsdale, AZ

February 26
Green Music Center
Rohnert Park, CA

February 27
Zellerbach Hall
Berkeley, CA

February 28
Performing Arts Center San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA

March 5
Elbphilharmonie
Hamburg, Hamburg

March 7
The Queen’s Hall
Copenhagen, Denmark

March 13
Gloria Theater
Cologne, Germany

March 15
Heimathafen
Berlin, Germany

April 1 *
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts
Burlington, VT

April 2 *
Capitol Center for the Arts, Bank of New Hampshire Stage
Concord, NH

April 3 *
The Concert Hall at Groton Hill Music Center
Groton, MA

April 4 *
Tarrytown Music Hall
Tarrytown, NY

April 6 *
Keswick Theatre
Glenside, PA

April 8
Marathon Center for the Performing Arts
Findlay, OH

April 9 *
Memorial Hall
Cincinnati, OH

April 10
Payne & Mencias Palladium
Carmel, IN

April 11
Foundation for the McKnight Center
Stillwater, OK

April 12
Walton Arts Center
Fayetteville, AR

June 8
Symphony Center
Chicago, IL
ATTENTION! with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

All dates solo unless otherwise noted
*Announced today