Episode #76 of American Highways: interview with Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall.

The name “Eighth Blackbird” derives from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens’s 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 “one of the smartest, most dynamic contemporary classical ensembles on the planet” (Chicago Tribune). Launched by six entrepreneurial Oberlin Conservatory undergraduates in 1996, this Chicago-based group is a fine example of how contemporary music is evolving and changing – daily!

AMERICAN HIGHWAYS #76: EIGHTH BLACKBIRD ENSEMBLE

Theme Music :

Steve Reich. The Desert Music (1984)

First Movement (Fast).

Chorus of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Michael Tilson Thomas & William Carlos Williams.

Nonesuch Records 79101

Philip Glass

Two Pages

Eighth Blackbird

Cedille Records 33229

Ned McGowan

Garden of Iniquitous Creatures

Eighth Blackbird

excerpt from live rehearsal at the Doelen Concert Hall, Rotterdam

Bryce Dessner

Murder Ballades

8. Tears For Sister Polly

9. Pretty Polly

10. Brushy Fork

11. Wave The Sea

12. Dark Holler

13. Young Emily

14. Omie Wise

Eighth Blackbird

Cedille Records 33229

Christopher Cerrone

South Catalina

Eighth Blackbird

Cédille 33229

Son Lux (formerly known as Ryan Lott)

To Love

Eighth Blackbird

Cedille Records 33229