eighth blackbirdFebruary 7, 2015

This month we present some musical firsts, including a celebration of one of the most important living African American female choreographers, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, in her company's 30th anniversary performance.

Zollar has created Walking with ‘Trane, in tribute to the 50th anniversary of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme—one of the most important jazz recordings of the 20th century. Hep Hep Sweet Sweet, meanwhile, is rooted in Zollar’s family history in the segregated Kansas City of the 50’s and 60’s and the jazz clubs that offered solace and inspiration.

In fact, popular music is the glue that binds most of the performances you will see.

eighth blackbird, known for their commitment to commissioning new work from contemporary composers, performs music from the indie scene including work by The National’s Bryce Dessner, and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry as part of our "adventurous works in intimate spaces" initiative at Jones Playhouse.

Finally, in their "maiden" performance at Meany Hall, the Jerusalem Quartet performs Bartok's String Quartet No. 4 - which is deeply influenced by the folk music of Austro-Hungary.

  I hope that you will be as excited by these performers and works as I am.

Thank you for joining us!

Michelle Witt Executive Director of Meany Hall & Artistic Director of UW World Series

DIRECTOR'S WELCOME

UW WORLD SERIES ADVISORY BOARD

Kathleen Wright, PresidentDave Stone, Vice PresidentKurt Kolb, StrategistLinda Linford AllenLinda ArmstrongRobert Babs, Student Board MemberCathryn Booth-LaForceRoss Boozikee, ArtsFund Board InternLuis Fernando EstebanDavis B. FoxBrian GrantCathy Hughes Yumi IwasakiSonja Myklebust, Student Board MemberMina PersonDonald RupchockDonald SwisherDavid VaskevitchGregory WallaceMark Worthington

Ex-Officio MembersElizabeth Cooper, Divisional Dean of Arts, College of Arts & SciencesRobert C. Stacey, Dean, College of Arts & SciencesAna Mari Cauce, Provost

EMERITUS BOARD

Cynthia Bayley Thomas Bayley JC Cannon Gail Erickson Ruth Gerberding Ernest Henley Randy Kerr Susan Knox Matt Krashan, Emeritus Artistic Director Sheila Edwards Lange Frank Lau Lois Rathvon Dick Roth Eric Rothchild Jeff Seely K. Freya Skarin Rich Stillman Lee Talner Thomas Taylor Ellen Wallach

Ellsworth C. "Buster" Alvord, In memoriam Betty Balcom, In memoriam 206-543-4880

uwworldseries.org

Thanks to the following contributors for

their support of the 2014-15 Season

Peg & Rick Young Foundation

Studio Event

February 7, 2015 eighth blackbird

Bryce Dessner: Murder Ballades

1. Omie Wise—Young Emily2. Wave the Sea—Brushy Fork

Lisa Kaplan: whirligig

1. off -kilter2. merry-go-round3. boogie-woogie

Various: Songs of love and loss

1. Richard Parry: Duo for Heart and Breath (2012)—2. Claudio Monteverdi: Lamento della ninfa (1638, arr. Tim Munro)—3. Carlo Gesualdo: Moro, lasso, al mio duolo (1611, arr. Tim Munro)—4. Bon Iver: Babys (2009, arr. Lisa Kaplan)

Intermission

Gabriella Smith: Number Nine

Tom Johnson: Counting Duetsand György Ligeti: Études

1. Counting Duet No. 1 — Étude No. 4: Fanfares (arr. Kaplan)2. Counting Duet No. 2 — Étude No. 11: En Suspens (arr. Munro)3. Counting Duet No. 3 — Étude No. 12: Entrelacs (arr. Kaplan)4. Counting Duet No. 4 — Étude No. 6: Automne à Varsovie (arr. Munro)

encoreartsseattle.com A-3

About the Program

Murder Ballades (2013)Bryce Dessner

The composer writes:

When eighth blackbird asked me for a piece, I immediately knew what to do: let great American folk music inspire a great American new music ensemble. The "murder ballad" has its roots in a European tradition, in which grisly details of bloody homicides are recounted through song. When this tradition came to America, it developed its own vernacular, with stories and songs being told and re-told over the generations.

In Murder Ballades I re-examine several of these old songs, allowing them to inspire my own music. Omie Wise and Young Emily are classic murder ballads, tales of romantically-charged killings that are based on real events. Brushy Fork is a Civil War era murder ballad/fiddle tune, and Wave the Sea is an original composition woven out of the depths of the many months I spent inhabiting the seductive music and violent stories of these murder ballads.

Murder Ballades was commissioned by eighth blackbird and Lunapark and funded by The Doelen Concert Hall, Rotterdam, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam, and Muziekgebouw Frits Philips, Eindhoven, with the

financial support of The Van Beinum Foundation, The Netherlands, with additional support from Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

whirligig (2013)Lisa Kaplan

whirligig noun1 a toy that spins around, for example, a top or a pinwheel. Another term for merry-go-round

2 a thing regarded as hectic or constantly changing : the whirligig of time.

3 a small black predatory beetle that swims rapidly in circles on the surface of still or slow-moving water and dives when alarmed.

The composer writes:

I only like to play four hands piano with people I really like. This genre, with two players at one keyboard, should make you laugh and curse, and delight in invading each other’s space. (Otherwise, what's the point? You might as well be playing on two separate instruments!) Composer/performer Nico Muhly and I wanted a four-hands piece to play together and, rather than find an existing work, he dared me to write something. That dare was an inspiration.

whirligig is all about getting up in each other’s business and relishing it. The first movement, off-kilter, is my tribute to Nico and his spunky, vibrant and amazingly animated personality.

merry-go-round is both silly wordplay and a homage to one of my favorite people. The third movement is an odd-metered boogie-woogie that was stuck in my head the whole time I was writing whirligig, and I thought it would be great fun to play.

Songs of love and lossVarious

The wild vagaries of the heart unite these four Songs of love and loss. Richard Parry (of indie band Arcade Fire) connects the rhythms of the physical body to the rhythms of the musical performance in Duo for Heart and Breath. Musicians wear stethoscopes, which enable them to play in synch with their own heartbeats. At other times, players are in synch with their own individual breathing. According to the composer, "The idea is less about 'performing' and more about directly translating into music the subtle, naturally varying internal rhythms of the individual players."

Two italian madrigalists sing keening laments of love and loss. Claudio Monteverdi's Lamento della ninfa sighs in waves of resignation, anger and hope: "I want him back, just as he was, if not, then kill me...love mixes fire and ice," sings the solo soprano (re-cast as viola) while three tenors (flute, clarinet, cello) rock her to sleep: "poor woman, poor woman." Carlo Gesualdo's lament, Moro, lasso (originally written for small vocal ensemble), is altogether darker, bleaker, as a lover sinks into the dissonant, chromatic mire: "I die in my

suffering, and she who could give me life allows me to die."

Bon Iver's anthem, Babys, shines welcome light:

Summer comes to multiply, and I'm the carnival of peace

I'll probably start a fleet with no apologies

And the carnival of scenes, it grows more and more appealing

But my woman and I know what we're for.

Number Nine (2013)Gabriella Smith

The composer writes:

Number Nine is inspired by the Beatles’ "Revolution 9," their collage-like, musique-concrète-inspired, aural depiction of a revolution, positioned at the climactic point of The White Album. Inspired by the looped phrase “number nine,” “number nine,” “number nine,” etc. at the beginning of the Beatles’ song, I began my Number Nine with an instrumental version of that repeated phrase, and the rest of the piece evolves from its rhythmic and pitch contour. I also incorporated many other Revolution 9 references, weaving their collage fragments into Number Nine’s continuously evolving arc. Number Nine was commissioned by percussionist Ted Babcock for his program Machine in the Garden and premiered in January 2014 at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Gabriella Smith (b. 1991) is a composer from the San Francisco Bay Area who currently attends Princeton University where she is a Naumberg and Roger Sessions doctoral fellow. Her current commissions include new works for the 2014 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the New York Virtuoso Singers, and Gabriel Cabezas. Gabriella’s music has been performed throughout the United States and internationally (in China, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Turkey) by PRISM Quartet, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Azure Ensemble, Berkeley Symphony, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Classical Revolution, Contemporaneous, Dinosaur Annex, Ensemble39, Friction Quartet, Monadnock Music, and Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. She received her B.M. from The Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with David Ludwig, Jennifer Higdon, and Richard Danielpour.

Before beginning her studies at Curtis, Gabriella performed as a violinist in the Superdelegates (an improv avant-garde classical/blues string quartet), the Formerly Known as Classical new music ensemble, and the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra. She currently sings in the Princeton University Georgian Choir. When she is not making music, she enjoys backpacking, birding, homebrewing, dancing Argentine tango, and working on her backyard farm in Northern California with her six chickens.

A-4 UW WORLD SERIES

Welcoming Cyndia Sieden to the UW Music faculty

Welcoming Cristina Valdés to the UW Music faculty

UW Chamber Orchestra with Cyndia Sieden, sopranoWorks by Mozart (Stephen Stubbs, conductor) and Haydn (David Alexander Rahbee, conductor) 7:30 pm Meany Theater

FEB21

FEB24

Faculty Concert: Marc SealesThe pianist and guests play American music—jazz blues, gospel, and more7:30 pm Meany Theater

Music of TodayRobert Platz: Branenwelten 6, for piano and electronics (Cristina Valdés, piano);New work by UW student composer Marcin Pączkowski; Improv Orchestra (Greg Sinibaldi, conductor)7:30 pm Meany Theater

MOre At: www.MusIc.wAshIngtOn.edu Artsuw tIcket OffIce: 206.543.4880

FEB20

Untitled-2 1 1/6/15 12:52 PM

About the Program

Murder Ballades (2013)Bryce Dessner

The composer writes:

When eighth blackbird asked me for a piece, I immediately knew what to do: let great American folk music inspire a great American new music ensemble. The "murder ballad" has its roots in a European tradition, in which grisly details of bloody homicides are recounted through song. When this tradition came to America, it developed its own vernacular, with stories and songs being told and re-told over the generations.

In Murder Ballades I re-examine several of these old songs, allowing them to inspire my own music. Omie Wise and Young Emily are classic murder ballads, tales of romantically-charged killings that are based on real events. Brushy Fork is a Civil War era murder ballad/fiddle tune, and Wave the Sea is an original composition woven out of the depths of the many months I spent inhabiting the seductive music and violent stories of these murder ballads.

Murder Ballades was commissioned by eighth blackbird and Lunapark and funded by The Doelen Concert Hall, Rotterdam, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam, and Muziekgebouw Frits Philips, Eindhoven, with the

financial support of The Van Beinum Foundation, The Netherlands, with additional support from Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

whirligig (2013)Lisa Kaplan

whirligig noun1 a toy that spins around, for example, a top or a pinwheel. Another term for merry-go-round

2 a thing regarded as hectic or constantly changing : the whirligig of time.

3 a small black predatory beetle that swims rapidly in circles on the surface of still or slow-moving water and dives when alarmed.

The composer writes:

I only like to play four hands piano with people I really like. This genre, with two players at one keyboard, should make you laugh and curse, and delight in invading each other’s space. (Otherwise, what's the point? You might as well be playing on two separate instruments!) Composer/performer Nico Muhly and I wanted a four-hands piece to play together and, rather than find an existing work, he dared me to write something. That dare was an inspiration.

whirligig is all about getting up in each other’s business and relishing it. The first movement, off-kilter, is my tribute to Nico and his spunky, vibrant and amazingly animated personality.

merry-go-round is both silly wordplay and a homage to one of my favorite people. The third movement is an odd-metered boogie-woogie that was stuck in my head the whole time I was writing whirligig, and I thought it would be great fun to play.

Songs of love and lossVarious

The wild vagaries of the heart unite these four Songs of love and loss. Richard Parry (of indie band Arcade Fire) connects the rhythms of the physical body to the rhythms of the musical performance in Duo for Heart and Breath. Musicians wear stethoscopes, which enable them to play in synch with their own heartbeats. At other times, players are in synch with their own individual breathing. According to the composer, "The idea is less about 'performing' and more about directly translating into music the subtle, naturally varying internal rhythms of the individual players."

Two italian madrigalists sing keening laments of love and loss. Claudio Monteverdi's Lamento della ninfa sighs in waves of resignation, anger and hope: "I want him back, just as he was, if not, then kill me...love mixes fire and ice," sings the solo soprano (re-cast as viola) while three tenors (flute, clarinet, cello) rock her to sleep: "poor woman, poor woman." Carlo Gesualdo's lament, Moro, lasso (originally written for small vocal ensemble), is altogether darker, bleaker, as a lover sinks into the dissonant, chromatic mire: "I die in my

suffering, and she who could give me life allows me to die."

Bon Iver's anthem, Babys, shines welcome light:

Summer comes to multiply, and I'm the carnival of peace

I'll probably start a fleet with no apologies

And the carnival of scenes, it grows more and more appealing

But my woman and I know what we're for.

Number Nine (2013)Gabriella Smith

The composer writes:

Number Nine is inspired by the Beatles’ "Revolution 9," their collage-like, musique-concrète-inspired, aural depiction of a revolution, positioned at the climactic point of The White Album. Inspired by the looped phrase “number nine,” “number nine,” “number nine,” etc. at the beginning of the Beatles’ song, I began my Number Nine with an instrumental version of that repeated phrase, and the rest of the piece evolves from its rhythmic and pitch contour. I also incorporated many other Revolution 9 references, weaving their collage fragments into Number Nine’s continuously evolving arc. Number Nine was commissioned by percussionist Ted Babcock for his program Machine in the Garden and premiered in January 2014 at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Gabriella Smith (b. 1991) is a composer from the San Francisco Bay Area who currently attends Princeton University where she is a Naumberg and Roger Sessions doctoral fellow. Her current commissions include new works for the 2014 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the New York Virtuoso Singers, and Gabriel Cabezas. Gabriella’s music has been performed throughout the United States and internationally (in China, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Turkey) by PRISM Quartet, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Azure Ensemble, Berkeley Symphony, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Classical Revolution, Contemporaneous, Dinosaur Annex, Ensemble39, Friction Quartet, Monadnock Music, and Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. She received her B.M. from The Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with David Ludwig, Jennifer Higdon, and Richard Danielpour.

Before beginning her studies at Curtis, Gabriella performed as a violinist in the Superdelegates (an improv avant-garde classical/blues string quartet), the Formerly Known as Classical new music ensemble, and the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra. She currently sings in the Princeton University Georgian Choir. When she is not making music, she enjoys backpacking, birding, homebrewing, dancing Argentine tango, and working on her backyard farm in Northern California with her six chickens.

encoreartsseattle.com A-5

Counting Duets (1982) Tom Johnson

and Études (1985-94) György Ligeti

Tom Johnson's (b. 1939, Colorado) obsessions are with simple forms, limited scales and reduced materials, but this dry and dour-sounding list doesn't capture the light, satirical nature of many of his best-known works. Narayana's Cows is a musical translation of the work of a 14th century Indian mathematician, Narayana. The text begins, "A cow produces one calf every year. Beginning in its fourth year, each calf produces one calf at the beginning of each year. How many cows and calves are there altogether after 20 years?" Failing: a very difficult piece for solo string bass challenges a bassist to give live commentary on the difficulties of playing this "very difficult piece."

Johnson writes: "Soldiers count the cadence as they march; agricultural surveyors count blades of grass; farmers count sheep; astronomers counts galaxies; lab technicians counts red blood cells; we all count money. The formalistic, religious, arithmetic, psychological, linguistic, and musical implications of counting interest me a great deal, and since I have a special love for patterns and numbers anyway, I have focussed much of my work in this direction. There must be countless ways of counting. And come to think of it, "countlessness" is another fascinating subject. Or is it the same subject?"

Born in Romania and trained in Hungary, György Ligeti (1923-2006)

fled post-war communism at the age of 30. Ligeti's solo piano Études reflect the radically varied musical passions of the composer's later years: the music of sub-Saharan African cultures; the complex wildness of Conlon Nancarrow's Studies for Player Piano; the harmonic freedom of Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans; and the keyboard music of Scarlatti, Chopin, Schumann and Debussy.

Fanfares spins wildly around the instruments, flinging scale-like patterns (derived from Middle Eastern music) against irregular, fanfare-like flourishes. Two musical worlds float simultaneously through the calm skies of En Suspens ("suspended"): a soft, nostalgic waltz, and a darker, more impersonal tolling bell. Entrelacs, named for an intricate Celtic decorative pattern, spins layer upon layer upon layer of interlaced, complex musical ribbon around the listener. Automne à Varsovie ("Autumn in Warsaw") sings an anxious, uncomfortable, rage-filled lament for the people of Poland, who suffered under the brutally oppressive communist regime of the 1980s.

About the Artists

eighth blackbirdslang (orig. and chiefly U.S.)1. verb. to act with commitment and virtuosity; to zap, zip, sock.2. adjective. having fearless (yet irreverent) qualities.3. noun. a flock of songbirds, common in urban areas since 1996.

Tim Munro, flutesMichael J. Maccaferri, clarinetsYvonne Lam, violin & violaNicholas Photinos, celloDoug Perkins, percussionLisa Kaplan, piano

eighth blackbird combines the finesse of a string quartet, the energy of a rock band and the audacity of a storefront theater company. The Chicago-based, three-time Grammy-winning “super-musicians” (LA Times) entertain and provoke audiences across the country and around the world.

Colombine’s Paradise Theatre is eighth blackbird’s new staged, memorized production hailed as a “tour de force” by The Washington Post. Composer Amy Beth Kirsten challenges the sextet to play, speak, sing, whisper, growl and mime, breathing life into this tale of dream and delusion. The season kicks off with a performance at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art followed by a season-opening performance at The Miller Theater in New York.

The 2014-15 season’s acoustic program, "Still in Motion," features new works by The National’s Bryce Dessner (the folk-inspired Murder Ballades), Lee Hyla, Sean Griffin and rising star Gabriella Smith. eighth blackbird brings this show to Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, Washington, and sunny Hawaii.

Other highlights include the premiere of Hand Eye, a new work for eighth blackbird by the superstar composer collective Sleeping Giant, our debut at Brooklyn Academy of Music in collaboration with LA Dance Project,

and a New Orleans-inspired romp with special guest singer-songwriter-accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman at Symphony Space in New York. To top it off, the group will conduct guest residencies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and a multi-visit residency at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

eighth blackbird holds ongoing Ensemble in Residence positions at the Curtis Institute of Music, University of Richmond, and University of Chicago. A decade-long relationship with Chicago’s Cedille Records has produced six acclaimed recordings. The ensemble has won three Grammy Awards, for the recordings strange imaginary animals, Lonely Motel: Music from Slide and Meanwhile.

eighth blackbird’s members hail from America’s Great Lakes, Keystone, Golden and Bay states, and Australia’s Sunshine State. There are four foodies, three beer snobs and one exercise junkie. The name “eighth blackbird” derives from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens’s evocative, aphoristic poem, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (1917). eighth blackbird is managed by David Lieberman Artists.

eighth blackbird is ensemble in residence with Contempo. Michael Maccaferri is a Rico Performing Artist and Clinician. Doug Perkins endorses Black Swamp Percussion, Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments, Vic Firth Sitcks and Mallets, and Zildjian Cymbals. Lisa Kaplan is a Steinway Artist.

www.eighthblackbird.org

A-6 UW WORLD SERIES

CS 082714 retirementbw 1_3s.pdf

• Assisted Living Apartments

• Memory Care Unit

• Skilled Nursing Center with Five Star Rating from Medicare

Live abundantly and be secure, with care and services that affirm your dignity.

CRC does not discriminate pursuant to the Fair Housing Act subject to any exemptions that may apply.

9107 Fortuna Drive

Mercer Island, WA 98040

206-268-3052

covenantretirement.org

FACULTY CONCERT

ROBIN McCABEAROUND ROBIN

Pianist Robin McCabe performs Ravel’s Miroirs, then is joined by students from her UW studio for arrangements of Bizet’s Carmen Fantasy and John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, among other works arranged for eight hands, two pianos.

Mon. Mar. 2, 2015 7:30 pm Meany Theater $20 ($12 students/seniors)

ArtsUW TICKET OFFICE206.543.4880WWW.MUSIC.WASHINGTON.EDU

Counting Duets (1982) Tom Johnson

and Études (1985-94) György Ligeti

Tom Johnson's (b. 1939, Colorado) obsessions are with simple forms, limited scales and reduced materials, but this dry and dour-sounding list doesn't capture the light, satirical nature of many of his best-known works. Narayana's Cows is a musical translation of the work of a 14th century Indian mathematician, Narayana. The text begins, "A cow produces one calf every year. Beginning in its fourth year, each calf produces one calf at the beginning of each year. How many cows and calves are there altogether after 20 years?" Failing: a very difficult piece for solo string bass challenges a bassist to give live commentary on the difficulties of playing this "very difficult piece."

Johnson writes: "Soldiers count the cadence as they march; agricultural surveyors count blades of grass; farmers count sheep; astronomers counts galaxies; lab technicians counts red blood cells; we all count money. The formalistic, religious, arithmetic, psychological, linguistic, and musical implications of counting interest me a great deal, and since I have a special love for patterns and numbers anyway, I have focussed much of my work in this direction. There must be countless ways of counting. And come to think of it, "countlessness" is another fascinating subject. Or is it the same subject?"

Born in Romania and trained in Hungary, György Ligeti (1923-2006)

fled post-war communism at the age of 30. Ligeti's solo piano Études reflect the radically varied musical passions of the composer's later years: the music of sub-Saharan African cultures; the complex wildness of Conlon Nancarrow's Studies for Player Piano; the harmonic freedom of Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans; and the keyboard music of Scarlatti, Chopin, Schumann and Debussy.

Fanfares spins wildly around the instruments, flinging scale-like patterns (derived from Middle Eastern music) against irregular, fanfare-like flourishes. Two musical worlds float simultaneously through the calm skies of En Suspens ("suspended"): a soft, nostalgic waltz, and a darker, more impersonal tolling bell. Entrelacs, named for an intricate Celtic decorative pattern, spins layer upon layer upon layer of interlaced, complex musical ribbon around the listener. Automne à Varsovie ("Autumn in Warsaw") sings an anxious, uncomfortable, rage-filled lament for the people of Poland, who suffered under the brutally oppressive communist regime of the 1980s.

About the Artists

eighth blackbirdslang (orig. and chiefly U.S.)1. verb. to act with commitment and virtuosity; to zap, zip, sock.2. adjective. having fearless (yet irreverent) qualities.3. noun. a flock of songbirds, common in urban areas since 1996.

Tim Munro, flutesMichael J. Maccaferri, clarinetsYvonne Lam, violin & violaNicholas Photinos, celloDoug Perkins, percussionLisa Kaplan, piano

eighth blackbird combines the finesse of a string quartet, the energy of a rock band and the audacity of a storefront theater company. The Chicago-based, three-time Grammy-winning “super-musicians” (LA Times) entertain and provoke audiences across the country and around the world.

Colombine’s Paradise Theatre is eighth blackbird’s new staged, memorized production hailed as a “tour de force” by The Washington Post. Composer Amy Beth Kirsten challenges the sextet to play, speak, sing, whisper, growl and mime, breathing life into this tale of dream and delusion. The season kicks off with a performance at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art followed by a season-opening performance at The Miller Theater in New York.

The 2014-15 season’s acoustic program, "Still in Motion," features new works by The National’s Bryce Dessner (the folk-inspired Murder Ballades), Lee Hyla, Sean Griffin and rising star Gabriella Smith. eighth blackbird brings this show to Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, Washington, and sunny Hawaii.

Other highlights include the premiere of Hand Eye, a new work for eighth blackbird by the superstar composer collective Sleeping Giant, our debut at Brooklyn Academy of Music in collaboration with LA Dance Project,

and a New Orleans-inspired romp with special guest singer-songwriter-accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman at Symphony Space in New York. To top it off, the group will conduct guest residencies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and a multi-visit residency at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

eighth blackbird holds ongoing Ensemble in Residence positions at the Curtis Institute of Music, University of Richmond, and University of Chicago. A decade-long relationship with Chicago’s Cedille Records has produced six acclaimed recordings. The ensemble has won three Grammy Awards, for the recordings strange imaginary animals, Lonely Motel: Music from Slide and Meanwhile.

eighth blackbird’s members hail from America’s Great Lakes, Keystone, Golden and Bay states, and Australia’s Sunshine State. There are four foodies, three beer snobs and one exercise junkie. The name “eighth blackbird” derives from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens’s evocative, aphoristic poem, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (1917). eighth blackbird is managed by David Lieberman Artists.

eighth blackbird is ensemble in residence with Contempo. Michael Maccaferri is a Rico Performing Artist and Clinician. Doug Perkins endorses Black Swamp Percussion, Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments, Vic Firth Sitcks and Mallets, and Zildjian Cymbals. Lisa Kaplan is a Steinway Artist.

www.eighthblackbird.org

encoreartsseattle.com A-7