Concert Reviews

17 November 2011

Chicago Classical Review

Genre-crossing Contempo program serves up a dizzying musical mix

Piano tangos, the U.S. premiere of a Russian string quartet, two works new to Chicago — including one for chorus by Nico Muhly — and a celebrated Japanese jazz pianist. It was another packed and dizzyingly eclectic Contempo program served up Tuesday night at the Harris Theater by the University of Chicago Presents series. Moderated by composer and artistic director Shulamit Ran, the evening flowed smoothly despite its wildly variegated elements and, while not all of the music was consistently inspired, there was no doubt about the commitment and dedication of the performers.

I care if you listen

SONiC Festival - eighth blackbird at Miller Theatre

What a treat for the second night of SONiC Festival to get to see eighth blackbird at the Miller Theatre (@ Columbia University). I had been looking for this moment since the last time I saw them (especially after missing them at the Armory)…

New York Times

The Chemistry of Fresh Enthusiasms

Among the various motivations behind the festival SONiC: Sounds of a New Century, a nine-evening series of new-music concerts running throughout the city, one standout is the claim that all the included works are from composers 40 or younger. Eighth Blackbird, a polished, personable, routinely dazzling sextet, has never bound its repertory so rigidly; included in its swelling canon are staples by Schoenberg and Boulez.

Musical America

SONiC: New Music from the New Generation

NEW YORK – Rarely has this city’s vibrant new-music scene produced an endeavor as ambitious as SONiC: Sounds of a Century, a new festival that opened Oct. 14 and continues at ten different venues all across the city over the next week. Produced by the American Composers Orchestra and Columbia University’s Alice M. Ditson Fund, co-curated by composer Derek Bermel and pianist Stephen Gosling, it features six ensembles performing exclusively 21st-century works by over 100 composers from six continents, all under the age of 40.

Consequences of Sound

Live Review: eighth blackbird at NYC’s Miller Theatre (10/15)

Classical music isn’t always that funny. In fact, one of the monikers frequently applied to this repertoire is “serious art” music. Laughing, needless to say, is strictly verboten, which is a shame, since one of the main elements uniting Saturday night’s concert by eighth blackbird at New York’s SONiC Festival was humor. Not just “smile a little” funny, but full-on LOL funny.