Ensemble-in-Residence: eighth blackbird
Dedicated to providing music students every opportunity to hear and work with professional, innovative musicians, the University of Richmond is fortunate to have an ongoing ensemble-in-residence program. Based out of Chicago, eighth blackbird has been at Richmond since 2004. In 2008, the group won a Grammy Award for its album, "Strange Imaginary Animals."
Members of eighth blackbird
Tim Munro, flutes
Michael J. Maccaferri, clarinets
Yvonne Lam, violin & viola
Nicholas Photinos, cello
Matthew Duvall, percussion
Lisa Kaplan, piano
Hailed by the press and public alike as one of the leading new music ensembles of its generation, members of eighth blackbird perform regularly on campus, both collectively and individually. They also instruct classes, conduct master classes and lecture recitals, and personally coach our music students and ensembles.
The group derives its name from the Wallace Stevens poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." The eighth stanza reads:
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.
With an ever-growing array of awards, collaborations, performances, recordings and compositions—and now known worldwide—"the birds" add another level of excitement to studying music at the University of Richmond.