Matthew Duvall is the percussionist with one of the premier new music groups in the world, Eighth Blackbird. Eighth Blackbird has established a reputation for its provocative and engaging performances. The winners of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, where they were the first contemporary ensemble to win first prize, the group is also a three-time recipient of the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. Other awards include top prizes at the Fischoff and Coleman National Chamber Music Competitions. The group has been featured on CBS’ “Sunday Morning” and was the subject of a profile in The New York Times. The ensemble is currently in residence at the University of Richmond in Virginia and the University of Chicago.

The 2003-04 season includes three performance debuts: its European debut in Kraków, Poland; its Canadian debut in Vancouver; and its Carnegie Hall debut, performing David Schober’s concerto for sextet and orchestra, “Split Horizon,” with the American Composers Orchestra. Other highlights include performances throughout the Midwest, East Coast, California and New Mexico. In recent seasons the sextet has performed in South Korea, Mexico, and throughout the United States, including concerts at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Columbia’s Miller Theater, the 92nd Street Y, the Metropolitan Museum, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. eighth blackbird has appeared several times at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Cincinnati’s Music X, and has also appeared at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, the Caramoor International Music Festival, the Chautauqua Music Festival and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival.

Matthew Duvall attended Oberlin College, University of Cincinnati, Northwestern University and studied with Michael Rosen, Gordon Gottlieb, Members of The Percussion Group: Cincinnati and Michael Burritt.  Matthew Duvall endorses Pearl Drums and Adams Musical Instruments.

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.

Winner of 2 GRAMMY Awards 2008

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

Back