Andrew Bird describes his orchestral take on ‘Eggs’ disc as ‘a kind of a trip’

Throughout 2026, singer-songwriter Andrew Bird is celebrating the 20th anniversary of “The Mysterious Production of Eggs,” his acclaimed third solo album. As part of that celebration, Bird will make his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jacomo Bairos, in concerts Nov. 13-14. 

The program will feature performances of the complete album, arranged for full orchestra, followed by a suite of fan-favorite tunes from Bird’s nearly 30-year catalog. Tickets go on sale March 20 to the public.

Bird calls the orchestral version of "The Mysterious Production of Eggs” “a kind of a trip. With 50 musicians onstage, you can finally do all those intricate parts, and it’s a totally different beast.”

Balancing jazz, folk and pop melodies, “The Mysterious Production of Eggs” (released Feb. 8, 2005) has been termed ”an unforgettable display of unique virtuosity.” Bird describes the disc by explaining that “every song is a little universe of sketches. You peel back one layer and then layer another right back on top of it.”

Ahead of his tour, Bird spoke with the site The Line of Best Fit and discussed his classical-music influences and his orchestral reimaging of "The Mysterious Production of Eggs.” 

Bird, who as a child, was trained in the Suzuki Method, points out that he never approached music “like a typical classical musician. I never conformed to the typical expectations of classical music. The hierarchical structure of it was never meant for me. I always loved the drama and the melodies. For the teenage years, what is a more dramatic soundtrack than this [classical] music? Everything is so much more heightened and vivid.”

Bird also cites the influence of Polish composer Henryk Górecki, especially his Symphony No. 3, on him and other alt-rock artists such as Goldie to Sigur Rós. "Around the time that I was recording ’The Mysterious Production of Eggs,’ this piece [Górecki’s Symphony No. 3] coincided with my entering this more experimental phase and beginning to re-structure the way I hear and think of music, and also when I began making these minimalist loops.

"It’s a piece that, regardless of whatever you’re doing when you hear it, it makes time slow down in a profound way. Being out in the country and in nature, I was making these loops, and I was looking to create the same effect as the one produced by this piece.

"That was a huge influence for me on ’Weather Systems’ (2003) [Bird’s second solo album] and ’The Mysterious Production of Eggs’ and also the song ’Armchairs’ [from his fourth solo disc "Armchair Apocrypha" (2007)]. I was really trying to create that sound of the harp and the piano and the strings creating an attack, this beam of sound that he [Górecki] creates."