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Carnegie Hall News
Back to Press Release List > 03/18/2008 - eight blackbird, 4/17/08
NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE EIGHTH BLACKBIRD PERFORMS
TWO NEW YORK PREMIERES IN ZANKEL HALL ON THURSDAY, APRIL 17 AT 7:30 P.M.
Program, Entitled The Only Moving Thing, Features Steve Reich’s Double Sextet
as well as David Lang/Michael Gordon/Julie Wolfe’s singing in the dead of night
On Thursday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall, Grammy Award-winning new music ensemble eighth blackbird performs The Only Moving Thing, a program featuring the New York premieres of Steve Reich’s Double Sextet, which was co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, and David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe’s singing in the dead of night, with stage direction by Susan Marshall. This concert is part of Nonesuch at Carnegie.
About his Double Sextet, Grammy Award-winning composer Steve Reich writes: “There are two identical sextets in Double Sextet. Each one is comprised of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, vibraphone, and piano. Doubling the instrumentation was done so that two identical instruments could interlock to produce one overall pattern. The piece can be played in two ways: either with 12 musicians or with six playing against a recording of themselves.” For the New York premiere in Zankel Hall, eighth blackbird plays against their own recording of the work. The piece receives its world premiere at the University of Richmond, Virginia, on March 26, 2008.
Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe—co-founders and co-artistic directors of Bang on a Can—describe the process of writing singing in the dead of night: “When the three of us met to figure out how to structure this collaboration, we began by thinking about eighth blackbird. We loved that they play so well, so musical, but what we really loved was that they move. They use their bodies on stage to show things in the music that the notes alone can’t show you. This excited us, and we wondered what it would be like if we invited our friend, choreographer Susan Marshall, to shape the movements of the players. We then wrote separate and very different pieces of music, which can be played together, or on their own, with or without physical movement. What links the works is that each of us left room for Susan in the scores, giving her and the blackbirds the opportunity to do the things they do so well.”
Described by The New Yorker as “friendly, unpretentious, idealistic and highly skilled,” eighth blackbird promises its ever-increasing audiences provocative and engaging performances. It is widely lauded for its performing style—often playing from memory—and its efforts to make new music accessible to wide audiences. The New York Times has raved “no challenge, stylistic or technical, seems too great for this ensemble.” In February, the ensemble scored its first Grammy Award. The album strange imaginary animals, on Cedille Records, took the award for Best Chamber Music Performance. The centerpiece of eighth blackbird's 2007–2008 season is its kinetic program The Only Moving Thing, featuring new commissions by Steve Reich and maverick composers David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe. This season, eighth blackbird makes their debut at the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, returns to the Kennedy Center, and is in residence at DePauw University and the University of Michigan. eighth blackbird also inaugurates its hometown series at the Harris Theater at Millennium Park in Chicago. In previous seasons, the sextet has appeared in South Korea, Mexico, Canada, Amsterdam, and throughout North America, including performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Metropolitan Museum, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. The ensemble has participated in numerous festivals including Tanglewood, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Cincinnati’s Music X, the Great Lakes Music Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. In 2006, eighth blackbird made its debut at the Ojai Music Festival; the group has since been named Music Director for the 2009 season.
Since its founding in 1996, eighth blackbird has been active in commissioning new works from eminent composers such as George Perle, Frederic Rzewski, Joseph Schwantner, Paul Moravec, and Stephen Hartke, as well as ground-breaking works from Jennifer Higdon, Derek Bermel, David Schober, Daniel Kellogg, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and the Minimum Security Composers Collective. The group received the first BMI/Boudleaux-Bryant Fund Commission and the 2007 American Music Center Trailblazer Award and has received grants from BMI, Meet the Composer, the Greenwall Foundation, and Chamber Music America, among others. Recordings on Cedille Records include thirteen ways (2003), beginnings (2004), fred (2005), and strange imaginary animals (2006). The group derives its name from the Wallace Stevens poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”
Nonesuch Records has been home to original and adventurous performers and composers for nearly four decades. Its roster of artists spans the genres of world music, contemporary music, classical, jazz, music theater, and alternative pop. This season, Nonesuch at Carnegie also features John Adams, Kronos Quartet, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich.
Program Information
Thursday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
EIGHTH BLACKBIRD
Tim Munro, Flutes
Michael J. Maccaferri, Clarinets
Matt Albert, Violin and Viola
Nicholas Photinos, Cello
Matthew Duvall, Percussion
Lisa Kaplan, Piano
Susan Marshall, Stage Direction
THE ONLY MOVING THING
STEVE REICH Double Sextet (New York Premiere, Co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
DAVID LANG/MICHAEL GORDON/JULIA WOLFE (with stage direction by Susan Marshall) singing in the dead of night (New York Premiere)
Nonesuch at Carnegie
Pre-concert talk starts at 6:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall: Steve Reich and members of eighth blackbird in conversation with Ara Guzelimian, Provost and Dean, The Juilliard School.
The Trustees of Carnegie Hall gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the James R. and Frederica Rosenfield Foundation in support of the 2007–2008 season.
Carnegie Hall commissions in the 2007–2008 season are made possible, in part, by a grant from the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
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Ticket Information
Tickets, priced at $28 and $40, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street. They may also be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, www.carnegiehall.org.
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