UGA Wind Ensemble
Nicholas Williams, conductor

Presented in partnership with the Hugh Hodgson School of Music

“It proved a charmed collaboration — it was hard not to be, when working with music as charismatic as Viet Cuong’s Vital Sines. Commissioned for the Eighth Blackbird and the U.S. Navy Band…the 15-minute piece is a smiling tribute to Cuong’s upbringing in wind bands, and to his late father.”—Chicago Tribune

Eighth Blackbird is a four-time Grammy Award-winning contemporary music group that has been hailed as “one of the smartest, most dynamic ensembles on the planet” (Chicago Tribune). Through performances in its Chicago home base and at venues across the U.S. and around the world, Eighth Blackbird has brought innovative presentations of works by living composers to tens of thousands of music lovers. The group’s UGA Presents debut includes a performance of Atlanta composer Viet Cuong’s exhilarating Vital Sines in collaboration with the University of Georgia Wind Ensemble.