Eighth Blackbird and Wind Symphony 3/30/23

Thursday, Mar. 30, 2023 • 8 p.m.

Weigel Auditorium
Columbus, OH

The Ohio State University Wind Symphony

Guest artists in residence: Eighth Blackbird

Launched by six entrepreneurial Oberlin Conservatory undergraduates, this Chicago-based super-group has gained international recognition since winning the 1998 Concert Artists Guild Competition. The group has commissioned and premiered hundreds of works by composers including Viet Cuong, Bryce Dessner, Jennifer Higdon, Amy Beth Kirsten, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Pamela Z and Steve Reich, whose Double Sextet won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. A long-term relationship with Chicago’s Cedille Records has produced nine acclaimed recordings and four GRAMMY Awards for Best Small Ensemble/Chamber Music Performance, most recently in 2016 for Filament. Eighth Blackbird was named Music America’s 2017 Ensemble of the Year, were inaugural recipients of Chamber Music America’s Visionary Award and garnered the prestigious MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. In 2017 they launched the Blackbird Creative Lab, a mentorship program for emerging artists. The name Eighth Blackbird derives from Wallace Stevens’s aphoristic poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird: “I know noble accents / And lucid, inescapable rhythms; / But I know, too, / That the blackbird is involved / In what I know.”.

Hailed as “one of the smartest, most dynamic ensembles on the planet” (Chicago Tribune), Eighth Blackbird [8BB] has been operating for 27 years, beginning in 1996 as a group of six undergraduates and continuing under the leadership of two founding members, Lisa Kaplan, Pianist | Executive Director, and Matthew Duvall, Percussionist | Artistic Director.

8BB is firmly entrenched in the fabric of creative music, cited as “a brand-name defined by adventure, vibrancy and quality” (Detroit Free Press).

Lina Andonovska, flutes
Zachary Good, clarinets
Maiani da Silva, violin
Laura Metcalf, cello
Matthew Duvall, percussion
Lisa Kaplan, piano

Eighth Blackbird is managed by Epstein Fox Performances LLC.

Lisa Kaplan is a Steinway Artist. Matthew Duvall proudly endorses Pearl Drums and Adams Musical Instruments, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Zildjian Cymbals, and Black Swamp Percussion Accessories.

Accolades, premieres, recordings and more

PROGRAM NOTES

by Matthew Duvall

Good evening, Ohio State University,

We’re Eighth Blackbird and we are extremely excited about walking onto the Weigel Auditorium stage this evening. If you like, there’s a bio that describes more about who we are, what sorts of things we’ve done here and there, and for how long. For now, let’s just say that it’s a long time.

One hits a grind when you’re a couple of decades in and we’ll admit, we went into the pandemic feeling burnt out. That period offered us some much-needed perspective, a perspective that came in many forms. One of those forms was remembering to be appreciative of every opportunity to play together. We saw someone on Twitter comment something along the lines of, “Every gig that used to be the worst gig in the worst town in the worst bar is now the best gig ever.” That really resonates.

When we tell you that we are incredibly grateful for the time we’ll have together this evening, we really mean it. And we don’t mean “we” as in 8BB-“we”. But really we mean “we” as in us and all of you here together. The all-of-us-“we”. Not everyone acknowledges that the audience is a part of the performance, but you absolutely are. We (the all-of-us-“we”) are performing together this evening. We’re in this together.

Below you’ll find some musings on what’s to come. Read it now, or don’t. We’re of two minds:

Gain some preparatory insight to inform your listening. You guys only get one chance to hear each of these compositions. A work of art, particularly one that is temporal, is a lot to take in with only one listening. We’re pros, and we never hear it all the first time. A heads-up on what’s about to happen could be really helpful.
Take the unfiltered approach. No information. Complete openness to what is being experienced at the moment. Real-time. And then, without anyone (e.g. us) telling you what to consider, your first impression is your own. Afterward, you can read said musings, or talk to others here this evening, or claim your artistic experience in whatever way you choose.

Tough call. Sorry, no one can make this decision for you. The way you choose to perceive the many immersive layers of information all around you is entirely up to you.

Spoilers ahead!

Viet Cuong: Electric Aroma (2017, arr. 2018)

The poet Pablo Picasso (yes, that Picasso) intrigued Viet with a line written in 1936:

10 october XXXVI (ii)
"...and if the weather is clear listen to the crack when in my chest breaks the perfume of the stick the arrow painted on the fan tossed on the bed the luminous alarmed panther sheen of her regard with an electric aroma, a most disagreeable noise spreading a dreadful odor of stars crushed underfoot"
— Pablo Picasso

Perhaps Viet thought to himself, “Well then, let's make disagreeable noises, shall we?" Imagining an electric aroma, he colors the instruments using extended techniques that sizzle and snap, such as tin foil in the vibraphone, metals buzzing on an upside-down snare drum, and wind players rudely playing multiple sounds simultaneously. Viet likes having fun. All of us are doing things the rules say we're not supposed to do.

Electric Aroma was commissioned by Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting for the 2017 Blackbird Creative Laboratory, 8BB's professional development immersion.

Julius Eastman: Stay On It (1973)

Julius Eastman (1940–1990) was a pianist and composer who loved pop music and brought groove into classical music before it was fashionable. Finding an artistic voice early, his career blossomed, and then diminished, only to have personal misfortune lead to his tragically untimely passing at age 47.

Classical music has often had a hard time with artists who put themselves — those with creatively explosive colossal personalities — on an equal footing with the music itself. It’s not that he was too big for us; it's that we were too small for him. Julius Eastman was fearless and unabashed and uncompromising. He wasn’t understood, acknowledged or appreciated during his time with us, but he is revered now.

Like Julius Eastman's music and life, Stay On It is driven by the inspired eruption of passion, sensation and fervor. The opening groove is so simple and clear. And slowly, methodically, the groove gets dismantled. It begins with boisterous confidence but fades more rapidly with each successively futile attempt to reassert itself until it is swallowed completely by chaos. Everything that was comprehensible is destroyed. And then in the final moments he relents, forgiving. There is a narrative struggle in this work about trying and failing. Graciously, at the end of it, he offers us reflection, recovery, and perhaps never-ending catharsis.

Andy Ahiko: Erase (2011)

Andy is a synesthete and virtuoso. We commissioned erase and worked very closely with Andy to cultivate the work. During one of our rehearsals, Andy said that something was awry, but struggled to articulate it with words. So instead, he went to the piano and played the parts the way he imagined and then did the same with the percussion part. No words needed. Such a pure musician — thinking, feeling and speaking through music as his language.

erase is a machine. The kind of machine we fear will overtake humans in the future. A machine growing its sounds, expressions and very questionable intentions.

erase was commissioned for 8BB by the American Composers Forum and MakeMusic, Inc.

Jonathan Bailey Holland: The Clarity of Cold Air (2013)

Jonathan (b. 1974) is elegant in everything he does. He and Matthew (the percussionist on the stage) have been friends since high school. It is a friendship that has lasted decades, in part because Jon writes extraordinarily beautiful music, and 8BB loves to play it.

The Clarity of Cold Air is atmospheric. Pristine. It might be the most difficult work on this program because every sound is transparent, and nothing is wasted. We don’t often consider that extremely soft music is incredibly difficult. You may hear it as abstract ambience, or you may create a sublime narrative evocative of the title, or you can do as you prefer because listening to music isn’t anyone else’s experience. It’s yours.

Ned McGowan: The Garden of Iniquitous Creatures (2016)

It’s kinda hard to describe Ned. Composer, teacher, flutist, improviser and curator. But really an artist in a broadly encompassing conceptual scope. He’s known for rhythmic virtuosity and vitality. You’re as likely to find him in Bangalore as Rotterdam creating self-contained musical worlds through a process of cross-genre translation.

The Garden of Iniquitous Creatures is Ned’s aural imagining of Bosch’s super-weird “The Garden of Earthly Delights” interpolated through the metal band Meshuggah, south Indian Carnatic rhythms, Steve Reich, Colin Nancarrow, Frank Zappa, John Zorn and George Crumb.

Wut? Let’s just say that it’s all you, Ned. There is no comparison. It’s all you.

* Nerd alert: The Garden of Iniquitous Creatures has a recurring rhythmical spine composed of a series of groups with the lengths 7 7 5 5 5 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3. These groups are repeated, built upon and altered throughout, an influential rhythmic landscape on top of which much of the music travels. But wait, there’s more: the length of the groupings adds up to 60, which is neatly divisible by 3, 4 and 5 (plus a few other numbers), another source for composition material. Ultimately these factors result in a composition that gives the performers anxiety-induced heart palpitations.

The Garden of Iniquitous Creatures was commissioned for 8BB by De Doelen Rotterdam.

— INTERMISSION —

Viet Cuong: Vital Sines (2022)

Eighth Blackbird and Ohio State Wind Symphony — Russel C. Mikkelson, conductor

When 8BB was graciously contacted by Captain Kenneth C. Collins and the U.S. Navy Band with the invitation to create a new work, I [Matthew Duvall] picked up my phone and texted Viet:

Me: Hey. Got a question. Concerto for 8BB and the U.S. Navy Band. Wanna do it? 🤔 *drinking ☕️ and waiting*

Viet: I just spit out my drink YES 🙌 that is like a dream project omg 🎉

Me: We have the best contracts 🙃

Viet: lol yes we do thanks a million WOW

Me: Wonderful, more soon 😉 (pour a new drink!)

Viet: I shall, cheers! 🥂

The whole exchange, from getting the Navy Band invitation to🥂 ["cheers"] took 4 minutes. For those who may be unfamiliar with the commissioning process, this is not usual. Except that with 8BB and Viet Cuong, it is.

8BB operates an innovative professional development initiative for artists called the Blackbird Creative Lab. Viet was a Lab artist at our first immersion in 2017 and we’ve been fast friends ever since. He has amazed us more times than we can count and means more to us than we can describe. Commissioning him to write this concerto was no different from giving him a hug.

Performing a composition, like acting a role in a play, is an interpretative practice. We didn’t compose the work, but we are tasked with making it authentic to us so that the experience is also authentic. But it’s different, in wonderful ways, when someone composes a work specifically for you. Every aspect is amplified. Viet composed Vital Sines for us, knowing who we are and how we perform. We get to go beyond performing the concerto instrumental parts. We get to perform OUR parts, made for us.

Viet has a few thoughts of his own…

It would be difficult to overstate just how important the wind ensemble has been in my life. Band was where I found community and identity during a time in my youth when I feared that there was nothing out there for me. In fact, it was one of the only places during those teenage years where I felt confident in who I was. And it was ultimately this confidence that gave me the nerve to believe that I could one day make it as a composer. But my life in the wind ensemble world almost never was. I very nearly gave up my musical pursuits in a fit of childhood frustration at the age of 11. My father, though he had no musical ability himself, saw in it something important. Always one to look after my creativity, he steadied me and encouraged me to give it more time. It was not long before he was proven right, and music had become something vital to me.

I find myself thinking of that crucial moment more and more since my father’s passing last year, and how music was and remains my vital connection to him. In the last weeks of his life — spent in the disorienting whir of the ICU — I often struggled to speak. But when I could not, I would play him the pieces of mine that I knew were his favorites, hoping that the sounds, the sine waves, could find their way to his consciousness. Since his death, I have come to understand that my love for music is inseparable from the love I have for him. I still catch myself wanting to call him and play my latest efforts for him.

This one, Vital Sines, is dedicated to my father’s memory as the guardian of my musical life, as well as the many moments during my life when I found sanctuary in music. The creation of this particular piece, though challenging, was a way of finding solace when I needed it most.

Throughout the piece, I employ several musical sequences and chaconne forms, all of which use repetition as a means of development. The overarching structure of the piece thus bears a resemblance to the visual depiction of the sine wave, rising and falling like the tracing of breaths and heartbeats. There is of course comfort in the familiarity of continued repetition. But I also followed memories back to my teenage years in Band, when that community had the extraordinary ability to not just bring me comfort but heal my heart. What I then realized was that all the other musical communities I have become a part of since then, Band or not, hold this same healing power.

With this concerto for the Eighth Blackbird and the U.S. Navy Band, I am tremendously honored to bring together the Wind Band and New Music communities, both vital to me and so many others. Thank you to 8BB and the U.S. Navy Band for giving me an opportunity that I dreamed of for many years, as well as for your patience as I navigated this time in my life. Finally, thank you to my father for helping me find my way all those years ago. This one's for you. — Viet

One indication of authenticity in the arts is personal relevance. We so often limit ourselves to asking “What did the artist mean?” (which can certainly be informative) and forget to ignore all that and ask ourselves the only question that actually matters: “What does this mean to me?”

In some way (and this way can have nothing to do with anyone else’s way), where do you find yourself in the work? That answer is yours and something over which I hope you feel empowered to assume complete ownership. In this case, the answer for us is quite literal. We, all of us, find ourselves in this work, making this performance about as personal as it can get.

And now it’s personal for you. You’re here, with us, and because Viet created Vital Sines, we’re going to experience this together.

And now…

Thank you for being a part of the experience. We love performing together. We don’t perform concerts the same way twice (no one does, really) because the moment drives each attempt. So whatever happened during this particular performance, even if we missed a note or two, was probably a lot of fun — even more so because you were a part of it. Embrace unpredictability, friends. We learn new things every time we perform. If you see us afterward, please tell us what you liked and didn’t like. Both options are interesting.

We are deeply appreciative to everyone at Ohio State for hosting our visit so graciously. With profound gratitude, we’d like to share how fortunate we feel to be collaborating with your very own extraordinary Ohio State University Wind Symphony.

Till next time, and wherever time and distance take us until then, yours xoxo,

Eighth Blackbird

Lisa Kaplan, Pianist | Executive Director, and Matthew Duvall, Percussionist | Artistic Director

The Ohio State University Wind Symphony

Russel C. Mikkelson, conductor

Piccolo
Katie Sharp

Flute
Meagan Gaskill
Arianna Bendit
Sofia Geelhood

Oboe/English Horn
Michael Rueda
Lauren Kowal
Claire Rottman

Bassoon
Dylan Tharp
Isaiah Heyman

Clarinet
Kaleigh McGee
Destiny Malave
Louis Maligaya
Maddy Brickner
Rohit Kolluri
Eli Johnson

Bass Clarinet
Marco Rojas

Contrabass Clarinet
Jiaqi Liu

Soprano Saxophone
Frankie Wantuch

Alto Saxophone
Sean Bauman

Tenor Saxophone
Cooper Greenlees

Baritone Saxophone
Austin Spillman

Horn
Brittany White
William Holderby
Ben Moloci
Cheng Peng

Trumpet
Ben Guegold
Matt Pileski
Connor McMullen

Trombone
Charlotte Stefani
Zack Irwin

Bass Trombone
C. J. McGhee

Euphonium
Sean O’Brien

Tuba
Jake Blevins

Percussion
Tres Perkins
Sam Sherer
Matt Hanson
Hannah Moore
Kalie Dawson
Haydn Veith

8BB Accolades, premieres, recordings and more

Accolades include:

Four Grammy Awards for Best Small Ensemble/Chamber Music Performance | The MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions | The Concert Artists Guild Competition Grand Prize | The Musical America Ensemble of the Year | The Chamber Music America Visionary Award | The APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards Performance of the Year.

In addition to chamber music performance, the members of 8BB value their roles as curators, educators, and mentors. Beginning exclusively as a chamber music ensemble, 8BB has expanded in recent years to represent numerous mission-driven initiatives.

In 2017, Eighth Blackbird inaugurated its boldest initiative yet: The Blackbird Creative Lab

The Blackbird Creative Lab [The Lab] is an inclusive two-week professional development immersion for performers and composers, and an ongoing community of practice for contemporary classical musicians and composers. The Lab fosters expansive artistic vision, collaboration, mentorship, and building a viable life as an artist. It continues its mission beyond the two-week immersion to find opportunities for its network of alumni to present in professional engagements. The Lab’s next iteration will be hosted in May 2023 at Yerkes Observatory in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

In 2020, 8BB introduced The Chicago Artists Workshop

The Chicago Artists Workshop [CAW] was conceived with the purpose of creating work for artists during a time when the performance industry was enormously threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. When work for artists disappeared, CAW created paying livestream engagements for artists during the stoppage of 2020–2021. CAW continues as a presenting series in both live venues and livestream platforms. It is a determinedly cross-genre series defined not by genre or discipline, but by extraordinary caliber and creativity.

Additional Accolades Include:

Commissions and World Premieres of hundreds of works by established and emerging composers. In addition to traditional chamber music commissioning successes, 8BB has pioneered two particularly noteworthy genres in the classical chamber music field:

Fully Produced Theatrical Chamber Music Productions:

Chamber Ensemble Concertos:

Jennifer Higdon, On A Wire | Kinds of Kings, Nine Mothers | Viet Cuong, Vital Sines | David Schober, Concerto for Sextet and Orchestra.

An Extensive Recording Catalog

Recent World Premieres

2022, Composition As Explanation, fully staged theatrical production. Composed by David Lang, with stage direction by Anne Bogart, and featuring text by Gertrude Stein.

2022, Nine Mothers, concerto for 8BB and orchestra. Commissioned by and premiered with The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Composed by Kinds of Kings, a collective of composers including Gemma Peacocke, Shelley Washington, and Maria Kaoutzani.

2022, Vital Sines, concerto for 8BB and Wind Ensemble. Commissioned by and premiered with the U.S. Navy Band. Composed by Blackbird Creative Lab alum, Viet Cuong.

2022, Metamold, composed by Bekah Simms. Commissioned by the Barlow Foundation.

Recent Releases

2019’s When We Are Inhuman (7d03d/Secretly Canadian), was a collaboration with The National’s Bryce Dessner and Will Oldham (aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy) that features new arrangements by Lisa Kaplan, who also co-produced the album with Dessner.

2020’s Singing in the Dead of Night (Cedille Records), written for Eighth Blackbird by Michael Gordon and Pulitzer Prize winners David Lang and Julia Wolfe, was described by Cleveland Classical as “propulsive, chaotic, and remarkably poignant.”

Long-Term Institutional Partnerships

The name “Eighth Blackbird” derives from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens’s evocative, imagistic poem, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird: “I know noble accents / And lucid, inescapable rhythms; / But I know, too, / That the blackbird is involved / In what I know.”

Eighth Blackbird is managed by Epstein Fox Performances LLC.

Lisa Kaplan is a Steinway Artist. Matthew Duvall proudly endorses Pearl Drums and Adams Musical Instruments, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Zildjian Cymbals, and Black Swamp Percussion Accessories.

eighthblackbird.org

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