Grammy-winning eighth blackbird promises – and delivers – provocative and mind-changing performances to its burgeoning audiences. Combining bracing virtuosity with an alluring sense of irreverence, the sextet debunks the myth that contemporary music is only for a cerebral few.
2012 / 2013 Touring Season:
Pierrot lunaire- by Arnold Schoenberg
Pierrot is far from home. Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire ("moonstruck Pierrot") takes this simple, naïve dandy on a darkly comic journey through a strange world. Intoxicated by the moon, he is preyed upon by giant black moths, steals from blood-drenched graveyards and smokes tobacco from a skull. Albert Giraud's poetry is funny, surreal, dangerous; Schoenberg's music combines the atmosphere of a smoke-filled Berlin cabaret club with the yearnings of the Romantic salon. In this new production of Pierrot lunaire, eighth blackbird supplements their six-member ensemble with a singer and a dancer, adding multi-media design elements to create a comprehensive theatrical experience.
On a Wire (2010)-by Jennifer Higdon
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon's virtuoso new concerto for eighth blackbird, On a Wire, has received rave reviews and standing ovations around the country. This 25-minute work is the latest fruit of a decade-long relationship between the sextet and the composer. By turns showy, lyrical, mysterious and dramatic, On a Wire takes its audience on a fascinating, unpredictable musical journey. It is perfectly tailored to eighth blackbird's many unique strengths, treating the sextet an indivisible super-ensemble, a gang of virtuoso soloists and a crack team of percussionists.
Fractured Jams
Join Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird for a dangerous musical high wire act. This sextet combines the finesse of a finely-honed string quartet with the energy of a rock band and the theatrical flair of a circus troupe. Swedish composer Fabian Svensson enacts a thrillingly intense, virtuosic face-off between the Two Sides of eighth blackbird, while American Dan Visconti's Fractured Jams feeds all manner of pop music through a musical shredder, resulting in an over-caffeinated jam session. Philip Glass's mesmerizing Music in Similar Motion collides with renowned French composer Bruno Mantovani's brand new work for eighth blackbird, which stretches even this virtuoso ensemble to its limit.
“Stage animals as well as outstanding chamber players, eighth blackbird performs with a freedom almost unheard of in their technically demanding repertoire. The musicians were integrated into the production and played their parts from memory - an uncommon delicacy. "–The Sunday Telegraph (London)
“The concerto is showy, exuberant, beautifully crafted. The audience erupted, hollered, stood, smiled, laughed with communal euphoria.”–Atlanta Journal Constitution
- booking: info@dlartists.com
- website: www.eighthblackbird.org
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