Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas

For more than two decades, Scottish fiddle legend Alasdair Fraser has been making music with mega-talented California cellist Natalie Haas. And for almost as long, the duo has been traveling to Bend to perform for locals who prefer their instrumental music to be elegant and danceable at the same time, hand-crafted but globally influenced and at once both deeply rooted in tradition and relentlessly progressive.

Taken off the road by the COVID-19 pandemic for the past two years, Fraser said he has missed his annual visits to Central Oregon.

“I developed my own internal hermit lifestyle, which was interesting,” he said in a phone interview. “But when it comes to doing what we do, which is an intense love affair with music and community … well, it feels very good to be back out and coming up to Oregon.

With a new album of globetrotting folk-meets-classical tunes called “Syzygy” out, Fraser and Haas will return to town Monday night for a show at the Tower Theatre . Before he headed this way, Fraser took some time to answer a few questions from GO! Magazine. This interview has been edited slightly for space and clarity.

Q: Your new album came out late last year. Was it already in progress at the start of the pandemic or did you record it entirely during the pandemic?

A: We went into the studio in January of 2020 and we got a bunch of stuff done. And then COVID gave us the time to just work on it and develop it and get to know the music and decide what we were going to do with it. And they, yeah, we released it in December but it was kind of a hollow feeling because we never toured it. So now, it kind of gives us new fuel and it’s a fresh look at what we do after 22 years on the road together.

Q: How important is new fuel and a fresh look at this point in your all’s collaboration?

A: Well, Natalie and I kind of have an agreement to keep pushing forward. You know, we keep testing each other with new ideas, and questioning the traditional forms. It’s always been a part of traditional music to go back to the well and play the old stuff and appreciate it and love it, but then to also say, “What now? It’s the year 2021. What are we dealing with? How do we reflect that in our music? What do we have to say now?” It’s an exciting challenge.

Q: People get hung up on the word “traditional,” but it’s important to work to push the tradition forward, isn’t it?

A: Yeah, because it’s alive. It’s a living thing. Growing up playing fiddle in Scotland, you know, the old music was king. And of course, it is. But this idea of keeping it warm and keeping it alive, it takes a certain amount of confidence to do that and to say, “We’re not going to play the old way right now. We’re going to try something new.”

Q: So what does the album title, “Syzygy,” mean to you and Natalie?

A: The original meaning goes back to the Greek, and the root of the word … actually refers to the yoking together of two oxen, which is kind of a bizarre turn. And then you read more about that and you find out that it’s the coming into alignment of two elements while retaining the character of each, and that’s the bit we thought was appropriate. Because that’s always been our goal. No one is the accompaniment. It’s more of a strong handshake between two equals, and we love that.

What: Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday

Where: Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St., Bend

Cost: $25-$45 plus fees

Contact: towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700.