By Sabine Kortals

Sextet eighth blackbird in fine feather

Wild and whimsical, fearless and fanciful, the exuberant sextet eighth blackbird enchanted a capacity crowd Wednesday night at Gates Concert Hall.

By Josef Woodard

Sight meets sound, and it's an awkward introduction

At LACMA, the ensemble eighth blackbird is relegated to slideshow accompanist.

In the ranks of important contemporary music groups, eighth blackbird's reputation has sharply risen in recent years. The young ensemble is widely admired for keeping new music alive, kicking and also approachable — minus compromise. Though the group has appeared in the Southland, including at the Ojai Festival — where it will be music director in 2009 — Wednesday's appearance at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Bing Theater was its first in that venue.

By David Weininger, Globe Correspondent

Ambitious aims, skillful execution made 2006 sing

By Hedy Weiss

'Pierrot' an inspired collaboration

Those in search of the finest model of cross-disciplinary artistic collaboration needed to look no farther than this weekend's program at the Museum of Contemporary Art Theater. On display was an inspired collaboration uniting the virtuosic talents of eighth blackbird (the altogether brilliant and fearless young sextet that champions both modern music and dramatic experimentation), Lucy Shelton (a singer who has led the charge of the avant-garde for decades) and Chicago-based master puppeteer Blair Thomas.

By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff

Blackbird displays dramatic flair

CAMBRIDGE -- Eighth blackbird's gift is to make new-music concerts feel fun and sexy. The six musicians started working together as students at Oberlin College; 10 years later, they are still attractive, energetic people with superb chops. They wear what they are comfortable in -- on Sunday at Sanders Theatre, pianist Lisa Kaplan was outfitted in a halter top, camouflage pants, and platform heels -- and they often play from memory, which enables them to roam the stage, group and regroup. Their concerts are a form of music theater.

By Ann Hicks

Fun night out with eighth blackbird

The extraordinary young sextet “eighth blackbird” made its first appearance in Greenville on Wednesday night, and proved just how much fun modern music-making can be.