eighth blackbird: Powerless March 14, 2011

Monday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Camp Concert Hall, Booker Hall of Music
"Technical mastery and uncanny sensitivity to the music at hand" — Letter V

"Music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all." Composer Igor Stravinsky's provocative statement questions the value, meaning and power of art. Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird contrasts their fall concert Powerful with this second program, Powerless, a joyous argument in favor of Stravinsky's dictum. The music in this concert delights in the teeming, multi-faceted musical world that, in composer Luciano Berio's words, "can't stop the wars, can't make the old younger or lower the price of bread, make tulips grow in my garden and alter the flow of the ocean currents." This concert will feature a huge diversity of music, from the complex, looping roulades of French composer Philippe Hurel's ..à mesure, to Hungarian master György Ligeti's kalleidoscopic Etudes, and the trance-like repetitions of Music in Similar Motion, by New York legend Philip Glass.

Official Website: http://modlin.richmond.edu/events/great-performances/eighth-blackbird-powerless.html