When you’ve been playing in a rock band for your whole career the way Ben Folds has, getting in front of a huge symphony orchestra feels completely different.

In writing his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Folds was composing a piece for the dancers of Nashville Ballet, while at the same time telling his own story: that of a rock pianist composing a concerto. In this Classically Speaking interview, he compares composition to songwriting, and concerto playing to rock.

The concerto was released as part of Folds’s album So There, which also includes his collaboration with classical ensemble YMusic. In this video from a CBS broadcast in 2015 you can see the partnership in action.

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