eighth blackbird plays Jennifer Higdon’s On a Wire with Cleveland Orchestra and Welser-Möst on May 27

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On May 27, eighth blackbird presents the Cleveland premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s new concerto On a Wire with the Cleveland Orchestra and its music director Franz Welser-Möst. This high-profile engagement at Severance Hall crowns a season in which the concerto for sextet and orchestra has figured prominently. After giving the piece its world premiere in Atlanta last June, eighth blackbird went on to tour On a Wire with orchestras across North America, and earlier this spring an album headlined by the Grammy Award-winning group’s premiere performance of the concerto launched the Atlanta Symphony’s new CD label, ASO Media. Two days after the Cleveland performance of On a Wire – this time without the orchestra – eighth blackbird makes a second appearance in Cleveland, playing its whimsical “Still Life” program, which includes music by Missy Mazzoli, Stephen Hartke, Pierre Boulez, and Philip Glass. eighth blackbird recently recorded this repertoire for a new album, due for release next season. “Still Life” is also scheduled for the sextet’s May 20 appearance at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

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