Shostakovich’s shining Festive Overture, filled with triumphant brass fanfares and woodwind virtuosity, opens the season. Eighth Blackbird, America’s groundbreaking sextet, explores the rhythmic vitality and color of Viet Cuong’s Vital Sines. Tchaikovsky’s lush and expressive Symphony No. 5, with its unforgettable “fate” motif, brings the Season Debut to a triumphant close.

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Season Debut: Triumph – Tchaikovsky 5

Des Moines Civic Center

The EUSO will perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and premiere composer Viet Cuong’s Vital Sines for orchestra and featuring Grammy-Award Winning sextet, eighth blackbird (sponsored by the Schwartz Artist in Residence Program).

EUSO 2023-2024 Season Concert 3

Schwartz Center for Performing Arts

Four-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “a new breed of super-musicians” who have mastered a diverse and eclectic repertoire of new music.

Eighth Blackbird

UCLA Nimoy Theater

Eight Blackbird and the University of Texas Wind Ensemble perform the consortium premier of composer Viet Cuong’s (BM ’11, MM ’12, Composition) “Vital Sines,” winner of the 2023 Frederick Fennell Prize, November 5, 4 pm CST, at the Bates Recital Hall on a program that also includes Rimsy-Korsakov, Schönberg, Missy Mazzoli, and Joseph Schwanter.

Alumni Event: Viet Cuong

The University of Texas at Austin

A playground of chamber music, theatre, poetry, and performance art, Eighth Blackbird (8BB) presents composition as explanation, a distinctly marvelous happening not to be missed. Directed by Anne Bogart and text by Gertrude Stein, composition as explanation is based on Stein’s essay of the same name. By lifting Stein’s words off the page, 8BB creates layers of interpretation that reveal the human relationship with art from an entirely unprecedented perspective. 

Eighth Blackbird: composition as explanation

Court Theatre

The LSU Symphony Orchestra and LSU Wind Ensemble combine to welcome award-winning new music ensemble Eighth Blackbird for a special concert, featuring composer Viet Cuong’s Vital Signs, among other works.

Eighth Blackbird

27 - 28 Sep, 2025

Season Debut: Triumph – Tchaikovsky 5

Mar 7, 2024

EUSO 2023-2024 Season Concert 3

Eighth Blackbird