eighth blackbird Returns to the Kimmel Center as Part of the Fresh Ink Series in Perelman Theater on February 17 With a Program Titled "strange imaginary animals"
February 8, 2007
Thimbles strike strings. Guitar picks strum a piano. Ducks, seagulls, even delivery trucks are evoked. The experimental, dreamy surrealism of the Chicago-based sextet eighth blackbird returns to the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater on Saturday, February 17, 2007 at 7:30pm as part of the Fresh Ink Series in a program titled "strange imaginary animals." Widely lauded for their performance style, eighth blackbird plays from memory with virtuosic and theatrical flair, branching out to wide audiences with new accessible music that The New York Times hails as "superb musicality and interpretive vigor." The program includes: Rhiannon’s Blackbirds, the newly commissioned work of Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Schwantner; Steven Mackey’s Indigenous Instruments; Gordon Fitzell’s violence; Franco Donatoni’s Arpège; Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez’ Luciérnagas; and Derek Bermel’s Coming Together.
An Artist Chat will take place in Perelman Theater following the performance with eighth blackbird and Kimmel Center’s Director of Programming Thomas Warner.
eighth blackbird, the second concert in the Kimmel Center’s Fresh Ink Series, is made possible by a grant from the Philadelphia Music Project, a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts. The next performance in this series is the Kimmel Center debut of the Kronos Quartet on Thursday, April 19 at 7:30pm.
Tickets for eighth blackbird are $26 and $36 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-893-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
Since its founding in 1996, eighth blackbird has been active in commissioning new works from eminent composers—most notably Frederic Rzewski and George Perle—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 winner of both the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, where it was the first contemporary ensemble to win first prize, eighth blackbird is also a three-time recipient of the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.
Highlights of eighth blackbird’s 2006-07 season include debuts at The Kitchen in New York City, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Houston Friends of Chamber Music, a return to the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and tours through New York and Colorado. During the ensemble’s tenth anniversary in the 2005-06 season, the group toured Osvaldo Golijov’s song-cycle Ayre with soprano Dawn Upshaw and a special collaboration with the Blair Thomas & Co. puppet theater and soprano Lucy Shelton, performing a fully memorized and staged cabaret-opera version of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. Both productions will be reprised for the 2007-08 season. eighth blackbird has performed in South Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, and throughout the United States. The group has won numerous competitions, including the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and is currently in residence at the University of Richmond and the University of Chicago. eighth blackbird has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning and in The New York Times.
Kimmel Center Presents' 2006/2007 season is supported by: Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, National Endowment for the Arts, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, ARC Wheeler, The William Penn Foundation, The Wachovia Foundation, Verizon Foundation, The Presser Foundation, Philadelphia Music Project and Dance Advance, Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trust administered by The University of the Arts. The Kimmel Center’s Fresh Ink Series is made possible by a grant from the Philadelphia Music Project, a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com are media sponsors for the Great Orchestras on Tour series.
FREE AT THE KIMMEL EVENTS are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program supported by a generous grant from Wachovia Foundation.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
Saturday, February 17, 2007 | 7:30pm
Perelman Theater
eighth blackbird
Tim Munro, flutes
Michael J. Maccaferri, clarinets
Matt Albert, violin
Nicholas Photinos, cello
Matthew Duvall, percussion
Lisa Kaplan, piano
Strange, Imaginary Animals
Franco Donatoni, Arpège
Gordon Fitzell, violence
Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Luciérnagas
Steven Mackey, Indigenous Instruments
Derek Bermel, Coming Together
Joseph Schwantner, Rhiannon’s Blackbirds
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FREE AT THE KIMMEL EVENT:
Saturday, February 17, 2007 | Post-Show
Perelman Theater
Artist Chat
Join us for an Artist Chat with eighth blackbird and the Kimmel Center’s Director of Programming Thomas Warner.
UPCOMING FREE AT THE KIMMEL EVENT:
Sunday, February 25, 2007 | 6pm
Commonwealth Plaza
Magauwane Mahloele
Accomplished in the making and playing of a wide range of traditional instruments, Magauwane Mahloele performed at the Philadelphia Live Arts Fringe Festival in September 2004. His style ranges from African to avante garde, and his art is a unique style of world music using instruments such as the kora, the mbira, and the djembe drum.
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