Chamber of experimentation

A CLASSICALLY trained ensemble has ditched convention for a crazy diversity.

Eight Blackbird classical

"LOOK out Australia. 8bb's comin' for ya! Nothing can stand in the way of our quest for world domination ... "

As far as classical chamber ensemble manifestos go, Chicago-based sextet Eighth Blackbird's offering is certainly at the bolder end of the scale.

But it's not until you meet the man behind the Twitter-bound mantra - Tim Munro, flautist, talking head and the Grammy award-winning ensemble's "tweeter-in-chief" - that the penny drops. That droll sense of humour, that wicked sense of irony, that accent ...

"I'm a Brissy boy, Australian born and bred," he confesses shortly after arriving in Melbourne, where Eighth Blackbird (8bb to its 10,000 followers on Twitter) has just flown in from the US.

"Well, yeah, world domination is a stretch," he adds, laughing. "But this is a homecoming for me; my two worlds colliding."

The chamber group, whose performing style has been described as an over-caffeinated jam session, begins its maiden Australian tour in Melbourne tomorrow before taking in Sydney and Munro's old stomping ground, Brisbane. And the 32-year-old concedes he is feeling the weight of expectation.

"I am full of nervous anticipation," he says. "I just really, really want Australian audiences to like what we do, to like how we play, to like our music. I feel like a proud mother."

Munro studied at the Brisbane Conservatorium and Australian National Academy of Music, before crossing the Pacific to join the new classical ensemble in 2006. Despite his anxiety, Munro says he is confident local audiences will warm to the group and its experimental bent.

"We're not your average chamber ensemble," he says. "We play with lots of different sounds; we play - and swap - lots of different instruments [the group has been known to use plastic whirly tubes and car brake drums in its performances]. There's nothing if not a crazy cultural diversity in Australia these days and I think audiences here will be very open to the different worlds we're throwing at them."

Just what the classically trained six-piece - two winds, two strings, piano and percussion - will be throwing at audiences represents, Munro says, the very essence of the term contemporary: the work of living composers.

"We are trying to bring to the stage the crazy diversity of music that's being written now. Everything from stuff straight out of the classical musical tradition to indie rock and music from Indonesia and Japan. We want to bring that music, that performance, to audiences in as innovative a way as we can."

8bb tampers with traditional concert conventions in a unique experience that extends to dramatic interpretations of selected scores. "We play one piece from memory," Munro says. "We throw away the music stands and try to show, dramatically - visually - what's going on in the music, what the composer is trying to say."

The young sextet has certainly accrued some contemporary cred in its 15 years on the scene: it won a Grammy in 2007 for its CD Strange Imaginary Animals and collaborates with the world's leading contemporary composers (works by Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Australia's James Ledger will feature in the group's local concerts).

Munro argues the group targets as broad an audience as possible. But the appeal of 8bb to younger listeners is indisputable.

"When I was studying at conservatory, very few of my friends went home to listen to Brahms at night," Munro says. "They went to jazz clubs, or played in indie rock bands. They brought many universes on the classical music they were playing. And we reflect that idea in our performance."

When the sextet isn't touring (last year it spent 200 days on the road), Munro is busy keeping up with the zeitgeist. The group boasts a hyperactive Twitter profile, a burgeoning Facebook page (with upwards of 2000 "likes") and an interactive, information-laden website. But while Munro says 8bb's strong online presence is a crucial element of the group's aesthetic, he is unsure whether it translates into ticket sales.

"I'm a little sceptical about how much difference it makes for our presence in the broader world," he says. "But the truth is it is essential these days to be involved in these things. The old ways of getting information out are over. It's important to play an active role in that sort of thing."

The ensemble, whose name is taken from Wallace Stevens's poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, was formed in 1996. And its line-up - comprising Munro (flute), Michael J. Maccaferri (clarinet), Yvonne Lam (violin and viola), Nicholas Photinos (cello), Matthew Duvall (percussion) and Lisa Kaplan (piano) - will take on a unique flavour for its Australian debut.

The ensemble has invited a student sextet from each of Munro's alma maters - ANMA and the Brisbane Conservatorium - to play with the group on Reich's Pulitzer prize-winning work Double Sextet at their Melbourne and Brisbane performances.

"We wanted to bring the performance into the educational sphere," Munro says. "Working with students - not just teaching but playing with them in concert - is a really important part of our vision. We're handing on things that we've learned over the years. Passing on the baton."

Doesn't playing alongside students in a concert environment make the group anxious about the end-product? "The only thing that worries me about playing with students is, you know, that feeling ... 'When are they gonna find me out?'," Munro says, laughing. "'When are they going to work out that I'm a disaster?'"

Munro and his colleagues are on a tight schedule and his lunch break, he politely informs The Australian, is almost over. Despite stepping off the plane just hours earlier, the group has been busy all morning "rehearsing the crap" out the tour program.

Even for seriously credentialled and accomplished players such as those that comprise 8bb, there is always room for improvement, Munro says.

"We wake up every day, walk into work and we get out our instruments. We tune up, start playing, look at each other and say ... 'Yep, we still suck.' That drives us. You know, there's always work to be done."

As for world domination, that will have to wait until Munro attends to a far more pressing engagement before flying home to Chicago. He needs to see his mum.

"She'd never forgive me if I didn't come home ... " Munro says, cheekily, " ... at least once a year."

 Eighth Blackbird performs at ANAM, South Melbourne Town Hall, tomorrow; The Studio, Sydney Opera House, on Thursday; Brisbane Festival Spiegeltent, Brisbane Festival, on Saturday; and Queensland Conservatorium on September 30.