Grammy winning eighth blackbird to perform with EYSO April 16
On Saturday, April 16, the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra will perform with Grammy Award-winning eighth blackbird during a 2016 masterclass and concert "Resonance" at the Elgin Community College Arts Center's Blizzard Theatre, 1700 Spartan Drive.
The EYSO is celebrating its gala 40th anniversary season, "It's About Time," and eighth blackbird is celebrating its own 20th anniversary.
The Chicago-based eighth blackbird has been described as "super-musicians" (Los Angeles Times) who combine the "finesse of a string quartet, the energy of a rock band, and the audacity of a storefront theater company." The group tours worldwide and has now won four Grammy awards, as well as a 2016 MacArthur Award of $400,000 for artistic leadership, creativity, and success.
Featured on the concert is "Murder Ballades" by Bryce Dessner. The work, premiered by eighth blackbird, comes from their new album "Filament," which won the Grammy. It consists of five short movements based on early American story ballads, but mixing contemporary folk and pop styles. Dessner is a young American composer based in Paris who was guitarist for the indie-rock band The National, and also composed the soundtrack for the 2016 Oscar nominee "The Revenant," with Leonardo DiCaprio.
EYSO Artistic Director Randal Swiggum said, "To hear this amazing, Grammy-winning piece live, right here in Elgin, is an unbelievable opportunity. Not only is the piece fascinating to listen to, but to experience eighth blackbird's energy and level of musicianship - well, that is going to be life-changing for the audience and for our young musicians.
Also on the program is the EYSO Youth Symphony reprising the dramatic finale of Mahler's First Symphony, the "Titan," and the EYSO Brass Choir, playing Eric Ewazen's evocative "Symphony in Brass," conducted by Jason Flaks.
The concert finale is a giant collaboration of eighth blackbird and EYSO musicians in "Workers Union," a 1974 piece by Louis Andriessen.
Swiggum said, "This is guaranteed to be a piece you never forget - just the staging of it alone will be a spectacle. The piece combines intense rhythmic precision with the raw power of 125 players filling the stage with sound. It's overwhelming."
The eighth blackbird group is made up of Nathalie Joachim, flutes; Michael J. Maccaferri, clarinets; Yvonne Lam, violin and viola; Nicholas Photinos, cello; Matthew Duvall, percussion; and Lisa Kaplan, piano. The name "eighth blackbird" derives from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens's evocative, aphoristic poem, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" (1917).
The EYSO Youth Symphony and Brass Choir collaborates with eighth blackbird at 7 p.m. April 16, at the ECC Arts Center's Blizzard Theatre.
Prior to the concert, eight blackbird members will perform and lead a free one-hour masterclass and discussion of the evening's repertoire, answering the question "How does a listener approach brand-new contemporary music?" Founding member Lisa Kaplan said that part of the original mission of eighth blackbird was "advocating for living composers, and guiding an emerging generation of musicians. This concert is dedicated to that mission."
The masterclass, also at the ECC Arts Center Blizzard Theatre, is free and open to the public. It begins at 3 p.m.
"Resonance" tickets are available through the box office. Visit tickets.elgin.edu or call (847) 622-0300.
For more information, please visit EYSO.org, call (847) 841-7700, or email office@eyso.org.
Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, an In-Residence Ensemble in the Arts Center at Elgin Community College, is home to five orchestras, brass choir, two percussion ensembles, and a thriving Chamber Music Institute. Founded in 1976, the EYSO today includes more than 360 students from 65 Chicago area communities. It is supported by grants from the EFS Foundation, the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission, the Grand Victoria Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council (a state agency), and the Palmer Foundation.