Eighth Blackbird Concert at Oberlin College Will Raise Funds For Local and National Aids Service Organizations By Rick Sanford '03
			World AIDS Day is December 1, 2001. In honor of the cause, Classical Action Oberlin, a collegiate branch of the New York-based organization Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS, will present a benefit concert featuring the acclaimed contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird on Saturday, December 1, at 8:00 P.M. in Finney Chapel. Proceeds from the event will assist local and national AIDS service organizations. The concert is sponsored by Classical Action Oberlin with the support of the Alumni Association, the Dean of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Office of the President. The members of eighth blackbird, all of whom are alumni of the Conservatory, are donating their performance for the benefit. Among the works they will perform is "Portals. . . where birds fly still," a piece they commissioned by Professor of Composition and Music Theory Randolph Coleman. The sextet, called "fiendishly good" by The New Yorker, is known for its astounding musical versatility and its dedication to the works of today's composers. Currently ensemble-in-residence at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, eighth blackbird has been honored with numerous prizes and awards, including the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the BMI/Boudleaux Bryan Fund Commission. In 1998 it became the first contemporary ensemble to win first prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Eighth blackbird has also received the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, and was featured on the CBS program Sunday Morning. Classical Action Oberlin is the first collegiate branch of Classical Action, which draws upon the talent and generosity of the performing arts community to raise vitally needed funds to fight the AIDS epidemic. Classical Action exists as a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the nation's leading industry-based AIDS fundraising and grant-making organization. While AIDS has been recognized as a serious health threat in the United States for 20 years now, many not-for-profit organizations that provide free health and social services to people living with HIV/AIDS are having an increasingly difficult time making ends meet. In September 2000, a benefit concert produced by Classical Action Oberlin raised close to $4,000 to aid service organizations, $2,000 of which went to the Infectious Disease Clinic in Lorain and The Open House in Cleveland. Tickets for the eighth blackbird concert are $5, general admission, and will be available through Oberlin College's Central Ticket Service. Please call 440-775-8169 to order tickets.
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