Eighth Blackbird, who recorded their fourth CD, titled strange, strange imaginary animals, at Ball State University's Music Technology studios takes home two Grammy Awards:

• Category 104: Best Chamber Music Performance - strange imaginary animals
• Category 97: Best Producer of the Year, Classical - Judith Sherman

Described by The New Yorker as friendly, unpretentious, idealistic and highly skilled, eighth blackbird promises its ever-increasing audiences provocative and engaging performances. It is widely lauded for its performing style often playing from memory with virtuosic and theatrical flair and its efforts to make new music accessible to wide audiences. A New York Times reviewer raved, eighth blackbirds performances are the picture of polish and precision, and they seem to be thoroughly engagedby music in a broad range of contemporary styles. The sextet has been the subject of profiles in the New York Times and on NPRs All Things Considered; it has also been featured on CBSs Sunday Morning, St. Paul Sunday, Weekend America and The Next Big Thing, among others.

strange imaginary animals

Guitar picks strum a piano. Thimbles appear and strike strings. A clarinet wails wildly, a bass drum roars-ducks, seagulls, even delivery trucks are evoked. strange imaginary animals explores all of these sounds in pieces that stake their claim to their own unique sonic space.

Featuring premiere recordings of Jennifer Higdon's Zaka, David M. Gordon's Friction Systems, and Gordon Fitzell's violence and evanescence, also Steve Mackey's Indigenous Instruments and a remix by composer/dj Dennis DeSantis.