Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Andrew Bird picked up his first violin at the age of 4 and spent his formative years soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear. When it came time for a restless teen-ager to make his own way, it wasn’t such a giant leap to Hungarian Gypsy music, early jazz, country blues, south Indian etc. It's fitting that now, though classically trained, he has opted to play his violin in a most unconventional manner, accompanying himself on glockenspiel and guitar, adding singing and whistling to the equation, and becoming a pop songwriter in the process.

His work was first acclaimed in the concert setting by the curious attraction of one man generating the wealth of sound normally produced by an orchestra, seemingly composing, or at least structuring the songs. Passages of violin, guitar, voice and glockenspiel are looped and layered forging a texture of definitive hooks and rhythms out of spontaneous stabs and strums. Each night is unique; Andrew rarely replicates the album version, as beloved as they may be.

Since beginning his recording career in 1997, he has released eleven albums, most recently the widely laudedNoble Beast. The 2009 album won praise from Esquire, the New York Times Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Rolling Stone, Spin, and many others. He followed the release with a worldwide tour that kicked off at Carnegie Hall and included appearances at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Radio City Music Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, the Sydney Opera House and the TED conference, along with a few hundred more destinations. He ended 2009 with a series of solo instrumental “Gezelligheid concerts,” exploring a different atmosphere and setting for his music, which utilized many of Mr. Schneller’s sonic sculptures and inspired the “Sonic Arboretum” project.