Bela Fleck

18-time Grammy winner Béla Fleck—the world's premier banjo virtuoso and a celebrated musical adventurer—has both explored his instrument's complex global history and unlocked the breadth of its possibilities. For over 30 years, he has led Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, the groundbreaking quartet inspired by jazz, funk, bluegrass and beyond. He has written and performed three banjo concertos and traced the African origins of the banjo with the award-winning 2009 documentary Throw Down Your Heart.  Collaborators include Abigail Washburn, the Brooklyn Rider String Quartet, Chris Thile, The Blind Boys of Alabama, McCoy Tyner, Zakir Hussain, Rakesh Churasia and Edgar Meyer (their latest album As We Speak won two Grammys in 2024). His latest album Rhapsody in Blue was released February 12 on the centennial of its premiere, and the Grammy-winning My Bluegrass Heart, is named in honor of his friend and hero Chick Corea (My Spanish Heart). Béla and Chick have toured as a duo and released a pair of acclaimed albums, the Latin Grammy-winning The Enchantment (2007) and Two (2015).