There’s a certain sensation that you get only when you travel far outside your home environment. Those first few minutes/hours/days are special because absolutely everything is new about the place- the sounds, smells, sights and other sensations. It’s all part of a dizzying period of initial discovery in foreign territory.

MIAF Eighth Blackbird

The musicians came on stage and dissolved the audience into an enveloping sonic cloud.

At U. of C., Messiaen in a bottle

Fest does its best trying to contain composer to 10 days

Messiaen Festival off to a rousing start

Olivier Messiaen would have been overjoyed by the opening weekend of the University of Chicago's Messiaen Festival in Mandel Hall, a 10-day feast of concerts honoring the centenary of the great French composer and modernist mystic.

eighth blackbird soars to new heights

Seldom comes the time when a cello and a bass clarinet play accompanied duets one-half tone apart for extended periods without most listeners wanting to tear out their hair. The folks in the University of Richmond's artists-in-residence sextet eighth blackbird can do it and make you want to hear more…

Review: eighth blackbird

By Clarke Bustard

Dennis DeSantis, the laptop-wielding composer and sound designer, added his voice – or at least his resonations – to several standards of eighth blackbird’s repertory in the opening concert of the ensemble’s fifth season in residence at the University of Richmond…