2023 Blackbird Creative Lab Recap

The Lab 2023 - a mini-documentary filmed by Cami Guarda:

After receiving over 115 applications, The Lab invited twelve musicians and seven composers from across the globe to explore creative and practical entrepreneurship as an artist via collaboration, experimentation, and performance. See below for 2023 Cohort Roster + bios. Each of the composers commissioned a new work, 7-10 minutes in length, inspired by the observatory. Lab musicians were placed in small ensembles alongside members of Eighth Blackbird, who offered mentorship as both collaborator and coach as the commissions were rehearsed. Lab performers also presented works by Viet Cuong, Joan Tower, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Gilad Cohen, and Viktoria Elizabeth Kraunzner. 

In addition to Eighth Blackbird’s Lisa Kaplan, Matthew Duvall, Ashley Bathgate, Maiani Da Silva, Lina Andonovska, and Zach Good, who offered workshops on creative visioning, the Lab’s faculty included composers Jonathan Bailey Holland, Viet Cuong, Joan Tower, and Pamela Z. Composition faculty each led a lecture-performance style presentation, featuring live performances of selected works. Further, Lab composers had the opportunity to attend several group seminars and coach one-on-one with the composition faculty, receiving career support and feedback on Lab commissions. 

Chris Murrah, stage director, and Susy Bielak, Creative Director of the Lab, joined the faculty roster, supporting cohort members in workshops on movement, performance, and site-specific research. The pair, in collaboration with the composition faculty, supported the seven Lab composers in a unique opportunity to collaborate with one another, both in composing and performing, through the development of a 15-minute site-specific work, presented in the Dome of Yerkes. 

The Lab joined forces with Yerkes' staff Dr. Amanda Bauer, the Montgomery Foundation Deputy Director + Head of Science and Education, Walt Chaddick, Director of Programs and External Affairs, and Dr. Amy Steele, Director of Astronomy and Research to explore the massive observatory, with historical presentations of campus buildings and grounds, workshops on glass plates and telescopes, universe-viewing experiences of Mars, Venus, the Moon and the stars, and seminars on the life and career of an astronomer. 

The Lab kicked-off with a concert at Tiny Tempest Farms, an agricultural and creative hub in Lake Geneva founded by Sheri and Blair Thomas, featuring Eighth Blackbird, with special guests Dalia Chin, presenting composition as explanation by David Lang and Erase by Andy Akiho, with special performance of puppetry by Blair Thomas. The Lab was also welcomed by Laurin and Will Mack at Black Point Estate and Gardens, the historic mansion of Chicago beer tycoon Conrad Seipp, for an evening of presentations of work and process by Lab composers and chamber music by Lab musicians and faculty. 

The second week of the Lab was heavily focused on the production of a five-hour musical event that spanned across Yerkes. The concert featured the seven Lab commissions, the composition cohort collaborative piece, Wax & Wire by Viet Cuong, Into the Night by Joan Tower, short lectures by Dr. Amanda Bauer and Walt Chaddick, and a shared audience + artist meal on the lawn of the Observatory. The audience, guided by Yerkes programming staff, experienced live music in the Ann M. Drake Library, the Dungeon (the space directly below the massive telescope), the Programs Room, the Hagenah Rotunda, and the Dome. For the concert program and full performance videos, see below. 

The Lab 2023 Concert Highlights filmed by Brain Ashby:

In addition to the faculty listed above, The Lab was supported by Deputy Director, Garrett Obrycki, Audio Engineer Matt McCabe, and Lab Associates Ayu Eini, Gabriel Borin, and Lena Yang. The Lab, from workshop to rehearsal and performance to shared meals, was documented by Cami Guarda, Brian Ashby, and Ryan Bennett.