Eighth Blackbird

SEASON PERFORMANCE
Eighth Blackbird

Sat, Apr 21, 2018 at 8PM
The Theatre at Ace Hotel

“One of the smartest, most dynamic contemporary classical ensembles on the planet.” —Chicago Tribune

Four-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “a new breed of super-musicians” who have mastered a diverse and eclectic repertoire of new music, which is played primarily from memory, while simultaneously being enacted on stage. They will be joined at The Ace by singer-songwriter Will Oldham, aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy, whose music has been linked to Americana, folk, roots, country, punk and indie rock. Together they’ll perform a set of original songs, along with Frederic Rzewski’s iconic Coming Together, a touchstone piece of classical music’s young, underground, independently-minded set. The text for this piece is taken directly from a letter written by Attica prison inmate Sam Melville in 1971, only months before the riots which he helped organized and that led to his death, and trace a descent from self-control into madness.