Friday, January 25, 2002

WILMINGTON, NC – Contemporary musical ensemble Eighth Blackbird will perform at 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 15, in UNCW’s Kenan Auditorium as part of the university’s Arts in Action Series.

The group, which takes its name from the Wallace Stevens poem 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, is a “young and phenomenally gifted sextet,” noted The San Francisco Chronicle. It consists of six Oberlin College graduates: Molly Alicia Barth (flute), Lisa Kaplan (piano), Matthew Albert (violin), Nicolas Photinos (cello), Michael Maccaferri (clarinet) and Matthew Duvall (percussion). The sextet is ensemble-in-residence at Northwestern University. Their debut CD Round Nut Tool was released in 1999.

Featured works for Eighth Blackbird’s Feb. 15 performance include the six-instrument Pocket Symphony written by Frederic Rzewski for the group. Tickets are $5.50 for UNCW students and children under 12, $11.50 for UNCW faculty and staff, $17.50 for all others and are on sale at the Kenan Auditorium box office. Call 910/962-3500 or 1-800-732-3643.

For more information, contact Shannon Hooker at 910/962-7600 or e-mail hookers@uncwil.edu.