Dave Eggar is getting ready to pick up where he left off with Foreigner.
Eggar, an adjunct professor of music at New Jersey City University, is an acclaimed cellist who has been nominated for seven Grammy awards. He is known for fusing orchestral arrangements with mainstream music.
He will be joining Foreigner, one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1980s, on a 10-concert, three-week orchestral tour next March.
The two-state orchestral tour will coincide with Foreigner’s 50th anniversary.
Dave Eggar performing in June 2010 in Los Angeles. Eggar will be going on tour in March 2026 with Foreigner.WireImage
Eggar and conductor Chuck Palmer will write the arrangements based on Foreigner’s songs, New Jersey City University officials said as the school announced the professor’s participation in the tour.
“It’s incredible” to have the opportunity to reimagine Foreigner’s extensive catalogue of songs, Eggar told NJ Advance Media.
“I want classical music to come together with rock in a way that’s adventurous and imaginative,” Eggar said.
Eggar first teamed up with Foreigner around a decade ago. The group’s live album, “Foreigner with the 21st Century Orchestra and Chorus,” featured reworked versions of the band’s greatest hits, including “Feels Like the First Time,” “Hot Blooded” and “Double Vision.”
For Eggar, 46, performing with a celebrated music act is nothing new. He has a lengthy resume of collaborations, including working with Beyoncé, Pearl Jam, Evanescence, Coldplay, Josh Groban, The Who and Bon Jovi.
Foreigner has a different lineup than when the group began in 1976. The only remaining original member, Mick Jones, wrote many of Foreigner’s best-known songs with former lead vocalist Lou Gramm, who departed in the early 2000s.
The band recently announced that Gramm will be reuniting with the band for some concerts in December.
Eggar described working with Jones as “like spending time with a great fiction writer.”
He cited the 1981 song “Juke Box Hero” as an example of the band’s storytelling. It is a song that tells the story of a boy shut out of a sold-out concert who decides to buy a guitar and becomes a star.
Asked to name his favorite Foreigner song, Eggar said it would be “a tossup” between ”Waiting for a Girl Like You” and “Urgent.”
Eggar began playing the cello and piano at age 3. He holds degrees from Harvard University and completed the Juilliard School’s doctoral program.
Since 2020, he has been an adjunct professor teaching undergraduate and graduate students in New Jersey City University’s Multi-Style Strings program.
“Dave’s mission to ‘not just cross over, but to cross through’ multiple genres of music are apparent with all of his releases. Whether it’s classical, reggae, bluegrass, jazz, pop, or world music, he finds a common voice within his musical vocabulary and introduces it with his own unique imaginative vision,” according to his biography on the university’s website.
Eggar said the concert tour will not necessarily interrupt his teaching schedule.
“Due to the COVID years, we’ve learned how to be successful with hybrid teaching,” Eggar said.
Big changes may be on the horizon at New Jersey City University. The school is pursuing a merger with Kean University, though the process is not expected to be complete until 2027.
New Jersey City University’s fall semester begins Tuesday.
Foreigner’s tour will begin March 6 in Nevada and conclude March 22. The first five concerts are at the Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas and the rest are in California.
Foreigner was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year.
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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.
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