Soprano Upshaw, contemporary composition impress at Benaroya Hall

The Seattle Symphony's "Subscriber Extras" can be real gems — certainly true on Friday night when one of the great singers of our time intersected with an amazing chamber ensemble and three living composers.

An Ayre of Magic

Dawn Upshaw flew in with eighth blackbird to sing a concert Saturday night in Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. The eighth blackbird sextet and six equally remarkable players formed the Orquesta Los Pelegrinos, which joined Upshaw in a stunning performance of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ayre.

Seen and Heard International Concert Review

American soprano Dawn Upshaw's fierce intelligence and supple voice bring extra layers of depth and excitement to contemporary music. That was in abundant evidence Saturday night as she energized Ayre, a song cycle by the Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov, into exuberant existence. With help from the eclectic Orquestra Los Pelegrinos, the 40-minute performance capped off a program of highly listenable, ear-bending contemporary music that included a new piece by Stephen Hartke and George Crumb's still-haunting 27-year-old evocation of whale song.

MUSIC REVIEW: Dawn Upshaw

Dawn Upshaw is one of the truly great, if not most versatile, sopranos of this generation. She has sung the standards, but truly specializes in the music of our time…

By Michael Cameron | Special to the Tribune

New music troupe eighth blackbird released a superb Grammy-nominated disc in early 2006 for Cedille records, a landmark for both the Chicago label as well as the stellar sextet. Saturday at the Harris Music and Dance Theater, the ensemble reprised four of the works from "strange imaginary animals," with guest laptop artist Dennis DeSantis adding electronic embellishments to the original acoustic incarnations…

By Andrew Patner
Chicago Sun-Times original link

Serving up a musical cocktail

CONCERT REVIEW | eighth blackbird's tasty music fusion

The words "crossover" and "fusion" are perhaps the most frightening in the music descriptive lexicon. They indicate a self-conscious crossing of a barrier -- from "classical" to "pop," say -- or a marriage of things that just don't taste great together. Yet there are successful ways to bring different influences together.