Orchestral

From an early age, Trey was always drawn to complex arrangements and classical compositions. While earning his degree at Goddard College Trey studied under Ernie Stires, an accomplished composer and mentor during the formative Phish years. During this time, Trey's writing focused heavily on fugues, spawning Phish songs such as 'You Enjoy Myself,' Fluffhead, and David Bowie. Complex compositions with boundless improvisation such as these proved to be Phish's trademark sound. It came as no surprise that when Phish took a break from touring in late 2000, Trey focused his creative energy on orchestrating and arranging 'Guyute' for a large symphony. In collaboration with Vermont Youth Orchestra director Troy Peters, Trey developed the opus ' originally recorded on a single acoustic guitar ' as it was always intended, for a large orchestra. The resulting piece, 'Guyute (Orchestral)', includes sections from another related Trey composition, 'My Friend, My Friend.' Trey debuted the piece in February 2001 with two benefit concerts, at the Music Hall in Troy, NY and the Flynn Theatre in Burlington, VT. Billed as Vermont Youth Orchestra featuring Trey Anastasio, these performances also featured a new orchestral piece by Ernie Stires who was reunited with Trey for the premiere. The performances were a great success and Trey still performs on occasion with the Vermont Youth Orchestra.

Trey released his first orchestral album, 'Seis De Mayo' in April 2004. 'Seis' features some new material as well as re-arranged originals like 'All Things Considered'(performed by a string quartet) and 'Guyute' (performed by the 66-piece orchestra, SeattleMusic). That summer Trey made his second appearance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in an unusual role - conducting the Nashville Chamber Orchestra through a special set featuring orchestral material from 'Seis De Mayo' before performing a more characteristically-electric second set with his dectet.