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Six Chicago ‘super-musicians’, four GRAMMY Awards:
Eighth Blackbird makes first national tour for Musica Viva
20 February – 9 March 2017
“…one of the smartest, most
dynamic contemporary classical
ensembles on the planet”
Chicago Tribune
“…a new breed of supermusicians.”
Los Angeles Times
"Professionalism and proficiency
amplified by that indefinable X
factor, charisma."
New York Times
The LA Times calls them “a new breed of super-musicians”. Renowned for their mesmerising stagecraft and compelling rhythms,
Eighth Blackbird celebrated their twentieth anniversary in 2016 with a fourth GRAMMY, Chamber Music America’s inaugural
Visionary Award and the title of 2017 Ensemble of the Year from Musical America. From 20 February – 9 March 2017, the Chicago
sextet tours nationally for the first time with Musica Viva, combining music from its prizewinning albums Filament and Hand Eye
with a world premiere by Sydney composer Holly Harrison.
In 1995, the director of music at Oberlin College, Ohio, assembled six students who were passionate about new music. Twentyone years later, this group has become one of the world’s most celebrated contemporary ensembles under the extraordinary
name Eighth Blackbird. “Our violinist at the time was studying early twentieth century American poetry,” explains cellist
Nicholas Photinos. “He found a poem by Wallace Stevens called ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’. Its eighth stanza talks
about ‘lucid, inescapable rhythms’ – a beautiful, captivating image.” Since then, Eighth Blackbird has commissioned and
premiered hundreds of works, often playing intricate scores entirely from memory.
Photinos joins flautist Nathalie Joachim, clarinettist Michael J Maccaferri, violinist Yvonne Lam, percussionist Matthew Duvall,
and pianist Adam Marks on this tour, which combines pieces they’ve worked on in recent seasons with music from two of their
recordings – one of which, Filament, won them their fourth GRAMMY.
“Bryce Dessner, guitarist of The National, wrote a piece for us called Murder Ballades,” says Photinos. “It takes a strand of
American music from the 1900s in which pretty melodies and conventional tonality accompany lyrics about gruesome murders
and other horrific things that happened in the old west. Sometimes they’d be rather sad melodies, but often very happy!”
“New York composer Nico Muhly is a great friend of ours,” he continues. “He wrote a piece for us called Doublespeak, which was
on the Filament album. Nico used to be a copyist and arranger for Philip Glass but I wouldn’t call this a minimalist work. It’s very
energetic, winding down to a conclusion that sounds almost mystical.”
Two other works were created with the composers’ collective, Sleeping Giant. “Ted Hearne’s music has a certain grittiness, and
the piece he wrote for us, By-By Huey, is dominated by a piano ostinato. It breaks out into a jazzy solo, which sounds improvised,
yet is written out amazingly well. Timo Andres’s Checkered Shade is on an almost symphonic scale. It’s a huge sound, not only
physically, but emotionally. It really grabs you,” says Photinos.
Sydney composer Holly Harrison has also written a new piece for the tour. Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup is inspired by chapters
nine and ten of Lewis Carroll’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). The main characters are the Gryphon and the
Mock Turtle, both composites of different animals. “I see these chimeras as a metaphor for the amalgam of musical styles in the
Media Enquiries: Adele Schonhardt, Media & Communications Manager, Musica Viva,
T (03) 9645 5092 | M 0457 727 379 | E [email protected]
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piece; rock, jazz, metal, hip-hop, pop, blues and funk,” says Harrison,
who won praise for her recent work with the Sydney Symphony
Orchestra Fellows, Ensemble Offspring and others.
The work was commissioned for Musica Viva Australia with support
from Geoff Stearn and the Hildegard Project, which champions
female composers in Australia. “Getting to know Holly’s work through
this commission has been great – we’re very excited about it,” says
Photinos. “This will be our fourth visit to Australia, but we’re going to
some cities we’ve not toured to before. It will be wonderful to see
more of this beautiful country.”
Sydney composer Holly Harrison
Eighth Blackbird will tour to Perth, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane and Adelaide. For further information,
visit www.musicaviva.com.au/eighth-blackbird.
DATES
Perth 20 Feb 2017 7:30 PM
Canberra 23 Feb 2017 7:00 PM
Sydney 25 Feb 2017 2:00 PM
Sydney 27 Feb 2017 7:00 PM
Melbourne 28 Feb 2017 7:00 PM
Newcastle 02 Mar 2017 7:30 PM
Melbourne 04 Mar 2017 7:00 PM
Brisbane 07 Mar 2017 7:00 PM
Adelaide 09 Mar 2017 7:30 PM
PROGRAM
NICO MUHLY Doublespeak
BRYCE DESSNER Murder Ballades
HOLLY HARRISON Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup (World
Premiere*)
TED HEARNE By-By Huey
TIMO ANDRES Checkered Shade
*Commissioned for Musica Viva Australia with support from
Geoff Stearn and the Hildegard Project
VENUES
Adelaide: Adelaide Town Hall
Brisbane: Queensland Conservatorium
Canberra: Llewellyn Hall
Melbourne: Melbourne Recital Centre
Newcastle: Newcastle Conservatorium of Music
Perth: Perth Concert Hall
Sydney: City Recital Hall
ARTISTS
NATHALIE JOACHIM flutes
MICHAEL J MACCAFERRI clarinets
YVONNE LAM violin & viola
NICHOLAS PHOTINOS cello
MATTHEW DUVALL percussion
ADAM MARKS piano
VIDEO & AUDIO SAMPLES
TED HEARNE By-By Huey (Excerpt): http://www.eighthblackbird.org/videos/by-by-huey-excerpt/
Hand Eye: http://www.eighthblackbird.org/product/hand-eye/
Filament (2015 GRAMMY winner): http://www.eighthblackbird.org/product/filament/
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY
Panel discussion at Perth International Arts Festival: https://perthfestival.com.au/whats-on/events/making-music-together/
Tour supported by the Musica Viva Amadeus Society. Perth concert presented in association with Perth International Arts Festival
Adelaide concert presented in association with Adelaide Festival.
Media Enquiries: Adele Schonhardt, Media & Communications Manager, Musica Viva,
T (03) 9645 5092 | M 0457 727 379 | E [email protected]