eighth blackbird to perform at Mandel Hall

The Contemporary Chamber Players will open its season Saturday, Jan. 19, 2002, with three Chicago premieres and a program selected by eighth blackbird. Performances will take place at 8 p.m. in Mandel Hall. Ticket prices are $15 (student price $8, with valid ID). For further information or to purchase tickets, please call (773) 702-8068, or visit http://music.uchicago.edu/ccp.shtml

The program is as follows:
- Minimum Security Trailer by Minimum Security Composers Collective (Chicago Premiere)
- Thirteen Ways Suite by Thomas Albert
- Portals. . . Where Birds Fly Still[dig.it vi] by Randolph Coleman (Chicago Premiere)
- Pocket Symphony by Frederic Rzewski (Chicago Premiere)

ABOUT EIGHTH BLACKBIRD
Hailed as ambassadors of new music, eighth blackbird has a growing reputation for its astounding musical versatility as well as its dedication to the works of today’s composers. The sextet, currently ensemble-in-residence at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University consists of Molly Alicia Barth (flutes), Matthew Albert (violin & viola), Matthew Duvall (percussion), Michael Maccaferri (clarinets), Nicholas Photinos (cello) and Lisa Kaplan (piano).

Each of the members of eighth blackbird holds a bachelor’s degree in music performance from the Oberlin Conservatory and artist diplomas in chamber music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory. The group derives its name from the Wallace Stevens poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird."

In 2000, eighth blackbird received the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the first BMI/Boudleaux-Bryant Fund Commission. The sextet recently was awarded commissioning grants from CMA and Meet the Composer, adding works by Randolph Coleman and Daniel Kellogg to its repertoire. In 1998, it became the first contemporary ensemble to win first prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, where it also was awarded the Rockport Chamber Music Festival Prize. The ensemble also claimed the 1998 and 2000 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. In 1996, the year it was founded at the Oberlin Conservatory, eighth blackbird was awarded first prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. "Round Nut Tool" eighth blackbird’s debut CD, was released in 1999.

Minimum Security Trailer is a sampling–an appetizer–of a larger commission by eighth blackbird of the Minimum Security Composers Collective. The commission, titled di/verge, comprises four pieces: Dennis DeSantis’ Powerless, Roshanne Etezady’s Damaged Goods, Adam Silverman’s In Another Man’s Skin and Ken Ueno’s Pharmakeon.

Like scenes from a movie trailer, movements have been selected by eighth blackbird to give audiences a taste of the larger work to come. The idea for an eighth blackbird/MSCC collaboration arose when the musicians of eighth blackbird asked for "not just another" piece of concert music. Since the four composers of MSCC align themselves to collaborate professionally, why not find a way for the composers to collaborate musically as well? The result is a large-scale 16-movement composition, with four movements written by each composer.