Members of eighth blackbird are flutist Tim Munro '02; clarinetist Michael J. Maccaferri '95; violinist and violist Matt Albert '96; cellist Nicholas Photinos '96; percussionist Matthew Duvall '95; and pianist Lisa Kaplan '96. Photo by Luke Ratray

Eighth blackbird, the fearless (and lower-cased) new music ensemble born and bred at the Conservatory a dozen years ago, won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for strange imaginary animals, its fifth recording. This is the first Grammy nomination for eighth blackbird, its fourth release on the Chicago-based Cedille Records label, and the only new music nominee in the category. A track from strange imaginary animals, Jennifer Higdon's Zaka , received a nomination for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

Other works on the recording are David M. Gordon's Friction Systems , Gordon Fitzell's violence and evanescence , Steve Mackey's Indigenous Instruments , and strange imaginary remix by composer Dennis DeSantis.

Strange imaginary animals also received recognition in the Classical Producer of the Year category; Judith Sherman received a Grammy for her work on this album and on recordings by Rachel Barton Pine and Matthew Hagle; Rick Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra; and the Kronos and Ying quartets.

Members of eighth blackbird are flutist Tim Munro '02; clarinetist Michael J. Maccaferri '95; violinist and violist Matt Albert '96; cellist Nicholas Photinos '96; percussionist Matthew Duvall '95; and pianist Lisa Kaplan '96.

"We were very happy with this disc from day one — it's probably our favorite, especially in terms of mastering and sound fidelity," says Photinos. "We were overjoyed even to be nominated for a Grammy, but to have won the award is almost unbelievable. We hope that the award will open doors to new collaborations, projects, and ideas."

Associate Professor of Conducting and Ruth Strickland Gardner Professor of Music Timothy Weiss is widely recognized for having mentored the group during their salad days. "I am absolutely ecstatic," he says of their Grammy win. "I think it's just fantastic for them."

That an album of contemporary classical music triumphed over more standard repertoire (recordings of Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky, for example) demonstrates, Weiss says, "their remarkably high level of contemporary music playing and their ability to connect with a wide audience."

A press release issued on behalf of eighth blackbird notes that strange imaginary animals has been one of the most widely-reviewed — and widely acclaimed — classical recordings of 2007, having accumulated an almost unprecedented number of raves from critics in the U.S. and abroad. BBC Music named strange imaginary animals its "CD Choice of the Month" in September and assigned it five out of five stars for both performance and sound: "Eighth blackbird play like musicians possessed; excited by the new, determined that their CD audiences will be too, they take wing, soaring on an upthrust of precision-tooled virtuosity."

Also nominated for a Grammy Award was conductor Robert Spano '83, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO), for Best Orchestra Performance for the ASO's Telarc release of works by Vaughan Williams, including Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. With the ASO, Spano has won five Grammys.