Featuring the music of Ellis Ludwig-Leone, Eighth Blackbird and San Fermin explore a world where every conclusion is a catalyst, and the end is simply the beginning.

Beginning with a short work for solo piano entitled “Farewell,” this program begins with an ending. But just as any end brings a new beginning, this is a celebration of music’s ability to create beauty from brokenness and community from loss. Gradually, the group of performers grows: first, in a duet for flute and vibraphone entitled “Free Dive” that conjures a breathless plummet into deep water and the hallucinogenic state that divers describe upon reaching the bottom. Next, a trio for violin, cello, and piano called Past Life that imagines the changing life of a sacred space over many years. The first half of the concert culminates in the world premiere of a new work for the full sextet by Ellis Ludwig-Leone, written for this occasion. The second half of the program sees Eighth Blackbird joined by Ludwig-Leone’s band San Fermin, performing songs from their most recent album Arms, which was written by Ludwig-Leone during a tumultuous period following a couple of breakups. Hailed as “masters of highbrow chamber pop” by Rolling Stone, San Fermin’s music lends itself equally well to the concert hall or the festival stage. In this intimate evening of chamber music and songs, genre distinctions are disregarded in favor of storytelling, and a recognition of the alchemical power of music to transform loss into something life-affirming and communal. What emerges is not a linear arc but a cycle—an ending that generates motion, a farewell that becomes the energy required to begin again.