Yann Tiersen

One of the reasons that the movie Amelie was so engaging (besides the beguiling performance of Audrey Tatou) was the soundtrack composed by Yann Tiersen. His offering was a compelling mixture of French folk music, classical piano, and pop—and it subsequently found footing with a number of mid-Noughties indie acts such as Beirut and Sufjan Stevens.

Even better, it boosted accordion sales everywhere.

A classically trained musician, Tiersen’s a multi-instrumentalist who rarely tours and, when he does, he’s as likely to be seen in a setting such as the Meyerson as he is at the Granada Theater, where this show will be housed. When not playing with orchestral backing, though, he’s typically accompanied by a rhythm section, a backing vocalist and a guitarist. Tiersen, meanwhile, is a virtuoso who will switch between keyboards, violin, guitar and found-object instruments, weaving organic and somewhat abstract compositions. Early reports on this tour find him focusing more on electric guitar in recent performances. But no matter: This will be a concert where the music is unhurried, avant-garde and perhaps a bit transformative for the audience.