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By Albert Imperato
16 Jan 2009
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| eighth blackbird |
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| photo by Luke Ratray |
Contemporary music sextet eighth blackbird contribute to the latest installment of our Q&A series. The group has a busy itinerary planned for 2009, spanning the States from Princeton, New Jersey, to Ojai, California, with a brief stop-off in Berlin.
Described by the New Yorker as “friendly, unpretentious, idealistic, and highly skilled,” the new-music sextet eighth blackbird promises – and delivers – provocative and engaging performances to its ever-growing audiences. Combining bracing virtuosity with a fresh and alluring sense of irreverence and panache, the sextet debunks the myth that contemporary music is only for a cerebral few.
With a Grammy Award recently tucked under its belt, the ensemble has a menu of offerings this season that includes debuts, premieres and high-class collaborations, including jamming with Wilco’s drummer in Chicago; debuts in Australia, England, and Rotterdam; world premieres by Rzewski and Reich in New York’s funky Kitchen, alongside the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble; and taking the reigns as Music Director at the Ojai Music Festival.
The group consists of Tim Munro (flutes), Michael J. Maccaferri (clarinets), Matt Albert (violin & viola), Nicholas Photinos (cello), Matthew Duvall (percussion) and Lisa Kaplan (piano).
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1. A few works of classical music that you adore:
TIM: Gosh. Current obsessions: Sibelius symphonies and tone poems; Bach cantatas and passions; Mozart operas; Bruckner symphonies
MICHAEL: Mahler Fifth Symphony; Beethoven Sixth Symphony; Rite of Spring
MATT: Shostakovich Fifth Symphony; Mahler Sixth Symphony; Bach Sonata in C Major for solo violin
NICK: Rite of Spring; any Mahler symphony; Mendelssohn chamber music, John Adams A Flowering Tree
MATTHEW: “Goldberg” Variations. It’s possible that I adore the piece as a direct result of Glenn Gould's performance on his 1955 recording. See #2.
LISA: Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467; Bartok, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste
2. Classical music recordings that you treasure:
TIM: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Handel Arias. There is no close second.
MICHAEL: Harold Wright and the Boston Chamber Players: Mozart and Brahms quintets
MATT: Emerson Quartet playing Bartok
NICK: Sibelius Second Symphony (Bernard Haitink, Concertgebouw); Emerson Quartet playing Bartok String Quartets; Kronos Caravan; Randall Avers Vistas
MATTHEW: “Goldberg” Variations (Glenn Gould, 1955)
LISA: Barber piano sonata (Vladimir Horowitz); “Goldberg” Variations (Glenn Gould, both early and late recordings)
3. Favorite non-classical musicians and/or recordings:
TIM: Andrew Bird, Beirut, New Pornographers
MICHAEL: Sara Evans, Julie Andrews
MATT: Eddie from Ohio, Looking Out the Fishbowl
NICK: Q-Tip, James Brown, Nelly, Curtis Mayfield, Snoop Dogg, Tribe Called Quest, Missy Elliott, Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Brad Mehldau, Chick Corea, Luciana Souza, Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers
MATTHEW: I've thought about this for three days, and it’s way too overwhelming a question. Do you have any idea how much music there is out there?
LISA: Elliott Smith, self-titled album; Peter Gabriel, us; Radiohead, KidA; The Beatles, White Album
4. Music that makes you cry – any genre:
TIM: Mahler and Bruckner slow movements; anything by Beirut or Andrew Bird
MICHAEL: Gustavo Santaolalla: Brokeback Mountain soundtrack
MATT: Gustavo Santaolalla: Brokeback Mountain soundtrack
NICK: Sibelius Second Symphony; Mahler Second Symphony; Mahler Sixth Symphony, some Brazilian tunes
MATTHEW: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Helplessly Hoping
LISA: Peter Gabriel, The washing of the water; The Beatles, Blackbird
5. Definitely underrated work(s) or composer (s):
TIM: Any and all new classical music.
MICHAEL: Janacek
MATT: Stephen Hartke
NICK: Schoenberg (esp. Pierrot Lunaire), Mendelssohn, Aaron Kernis, Stephen Hartke
MATTHEW: Stephen Hartke
LISA: Almost all living composers are underrated.
6. Possibly overrated work(s) or composer (s):
TIM: Rimsky-Korsakov, Sheherazade
MICHAEL: Schumann. Definitely Schumann.
MATT: Bruckner
NICK: Orff, Grofe, Schumann
MATTHEW: Beethoven Ninth Symphony (a remarkable work of genius, but shouldn’t be heard EVERY holiday season...c'mon already!)
LISA: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)
7. Live music performance (s) you attended – any genre – that you’ll never forget:
TIM: Philip Glass Satyagraha at the Met, 2008. I cried like a baby.
MICHAEL: I have forgotten.
MATT: Minnesota Orchestra, Sibelius Sixth Symphony, June 2008
NICK: Andor Toth Sr. (violin) and Andor Toth Jr. (cello) in a duo recital at Oberlin, OH, in the mid-1990s
MATTHEW: Ella Fitzgerald in an outdoor amphitheater. It started raining, so she improvised a transition into "Singing in the Rain" and her combo followed her lead; then it rained harder. It was pure magic.
LISA: Bob Dylan in the tiny main piazza in Lucca, Italy, July 1998; Bob Spano conducting the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, October 1992
8. A few relatively recent films you love:
TIM: No Country for Old Men; Man on Wire; Persepolis
MICHAEL: “Films”? I watch “movies.” I LOVE sci-fi: The Matrix (only the first one); 2001: A Space Odyssey
MATT: Brokeback Mountain; Wall-E; Michael Clayton
NICK: Persepolis; Letters from Iwo Jima; Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
MATTHEW: From the Earth to the Moon (produced by Tom Hanks). In our current political climate, it’s nice to be reminded that it’s possible for a government to accomplish something truly remarkable.
LISA: No Country for Old Men; Ne le dit a personne; The Lives of Others; Talk to Her
9. A few films you consider classics:
TIM: The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover; Psycho; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
MICHAEL: 2001: A Space Odyssey
MATT: Babe; The American President; Aliens
NICK: Pulp Fiction; Amadeus; The Godfather; It's a Wonderful Life; Princess Bride; The Wizard of Oz
MATTHEW: Almost Famous (too recent to be a classic?); Raiders of the Lost Ark
LISA: To Kill A Mockingbird; Ferris Bueller's Day Off
10. A few books that are important to you (and why):
TIM: Galapogus, Kurt Vonnegut (it works like my mind does); Radical Chic, Tom Wolfe (journalism gone wild)
MICHAEL: The Singularity is Near, Ray Kurzweil (It's terrifying and exciting. Kurzweil has been a fairly accurate predictor of the future of humans and technology which fascinates me.)
MATT: Consider the Lobster (loved the McCain and 9/11 essays); The Time Traveler's Wife (identified with the characters so deeply)
NICK: Jitterbug Perfume (Tom Robbins' use of language convinced me in my teens that a book could be funny, titillating, and masterful all at the same time); Lolita (also for the language. Arguably the best novel in English, and written by a guy for whom it was his second language. Unbelievable.)
MATTHEW: When I Grow Up I Want To Be Me, Sandra Magsamen (read this to your daughter and you'll understand)
LISA: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer; Upon the Head of a Goat, Aranka Siegel; The History of Love, Nicole Krauss
11. Thing(s) about yourself that you’re most proud of:
TIM: My curiosity and my job
MICHAEL: I own my own home and don't own a car.
MATT: Dependability
NICK: My marriage and my career
MATTHEW: My kids
LISA: my chutzpah; my forthrightness
12. Thing(s) about yourself that you’re embarrassed by:
TIM: The fact that I am very disorganized.
MICHAEL: I don't read for pleasure.
MATT: Tendency to obsess, inability to dance
NICK: My indecisiveness, my occasional shyness and/or mousyness, and that I don't have as much energy as I'd like
MATTHEW: I turn up the volume when I hear a song by Avril Lavigne.
LISA: Hmmmmm…there’s not much that embarrasses me…
13. Three things you can’t live without:
TIM: Bach, love, NPR
MICHAEL: My computer, beer, ear plugs.
MATT: schedules, ice cream, Spore
NICK: My wife, my career, and beer
MATTHEW: [Earnest:] My wife (yes, I realize that's only one thing); [Funny, but true:] My truck, sleeping pills, meat.
LISA: My family; music; good food
14. “When I want to get away from it all I…”
TIM: …grab my iPod and go for a long jog.
MICHAEL: …lock the door and play World of Warcraft and/or watch HGTV.
MATT: …play video games.
NICK: …take a trip with my wife, to Thailand, Japan, Puerto Rico, or anywhere that isn't the US.
MATTHEW: …don't check email.
LISA: …shut off my cell phone, stop wearing my watch and go immerse myself in nature.
15. “People are surprised to find out that I…”
TIM: …watched two whole seasons of The Bachelor
MICHAEL: ...like camping.
MATT: …play video games
NICK: …am actually LESS messy than my wife
MATTHEW: …ever check email
LISA: …have climbed to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
16. “My favorite cities are…”
TIM: …Melbourne, New York, London, Chicago.
MICHAEL: …Chicago, Portland, Vancouver.
MATT: …New York, San Francisco, Chicago.
NICK: …Madrid, Florence, Paris, Amsterdam, Seattle, Chicago, sometimes New York.
MATTHEW: …Passage Key, FL (its not so much a city as it is a secret...)
LISA: Florence, Italy; New York, NY.
17. “I have a secret crush on…”
TIM: …Juliane Banse, soprano.
MICHAEL: …a New York-based double reed player. Shh, don't tell him.
MATT: …Rene Russo.
NICK: …Padma Lakshmi, the host of "Top Chef" on Bravo.
MATTHEW: …Anne Boleyn, as portrayed by Natalie Dormer in "The Tudors." (This is really much more about my passion for historical fiction than it is about Ms. Dormer. No, really, I'm serious...)
LISA: …an old fling from high school.
18. “My most obvious guilty pleasure is…”
TIM: …buying CDs. Lots of CDs.
MICHAEL: …World of Warcraft
MATT: …mint chip ice cream.
NICK: …watching "The World Series of Poker" on ESPN
MATTHEW: …Rice Krispie Squares.
LISA: …a lovely pedicure.
19. “I’d really love to meet…”
TIM: …Ron Elving and Ken Rudin.
MICHAEL: …Ian McCartt.
MATT: …Roger Federer.
NICK: …Gautama Buddha, Jesus, Gustav Mahler, Salman Rushdie, Tom Robbins.
MATTHEW: …Lynn Davis.
LISA: …Rafael Nadal.
20. “I never understood why…”
TIM: …classical music became “old people music.”
MICHAEL: …things that taste so good need to be so bad for you.
MATT: …people say they're going to do things and then don't.
NICK: …people voted for George Bush, especially the second time.
MATTHEW: …it's possible to arrive somewhere before you departed when traveling internationally. Time zones are not rational. Just thinking about it makes my brain hurt.
LISA: …any half-way intelligent person could ever believe in Creationism.
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eighth blackbird Upcoming Engagements
Jan. 30 at 8 PM- Tallahassee, FL (Florida State University)
"The Only Moving Thing"
Feb. 7 at 8 PM- Kennesaw, GA (Kennesaw State University)
"The Only Moving Thing"
Feb. 10-13- Laramie, WY (University of Wyoming)
Residency
Feb. 19 at 7:30 PM- Chicago, IL (Harris Theater)
eighth blackbird with The Hilliard Ensemble
Feb. 23-March 1- Richmond, VA (Modlin Center for the Arts at the University of Richmond)
Richmond Residency (Week 4)
March 25 at 7:30 PM- Richmond, VA (Modlin Center for the Arts at the University of Richmond)
eighth blackbird with Glenn Kotche of Wilco
March 27 at 8 PM- Berlin (Theatre Haus der Berliner Festspiele)
"The Only Moving Thing"
For more information and full tour schedule, visit www.eighthblackbird.com
Past installments of 20 (PLUS) QUESTIONS:
Composer and Violinist Mark O'Connor
Composer Jake Heggie
Composer Ricky Ian Gordon
Pianist David Greilsammer
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Albert Imperato, a music promoter who co-founded 21C Media Group in January 2000, writes frequently about the arts for various publications and blogs.
His new series, 20 (PLUS) QUESTIONS, is his take on (and nod to) Vanity Fair's "Proust Questionnaire."
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| eighth blackbird
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| photo by Luke Ratray |
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