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EIGHTH BLACKBIRD: ENSEMBLE-IN-RESIDENCE                                    
Described by The New Yorker as "friendly, unpretentious, idealistic and highly skilled", Eighth Blackbird promises its ever-increasing audiences provocative and engaging performances. It is widely lauded for its performing style: often playing from memory with virtuosic and theatrical flair and its efforts to make new music accessible to wide audiences. A New York Times reviewer raved, "eighth blackbird's performances are the picture of polish and precision, and they seem to be thoroughly engaged by music in a broad range of contemporary styles." The sextet has been the subject of profiles in the New York Times and on NPR's All Things Considered; it has also been featured on CBS's Sunday Morning, St. Paul Sunday, Weekend America and The Next Big Thing, among others. The ensemble is in residence at the University of Richmond. Visit eigthblackbird.com for more information on 3P's ensemble-in-residence.

SAMUEL WELLS, TRUMPET

Samuel Wells is a composer, performer, and music technologist based in New York City. As an advocate for new and exciting music, he actively commissions and performs contemporary works. Sam has performed throughout the North America, as well as in China and France. He has also been a guest artist/composer at universities throughout North America, including Western Michigan University, Western University of Ontario, and Northern Arizona University. He is a recipient of a 2016 Jerome Fund for New Music award, and his work, stringstrung , is the winner of the 2016 Miami International Guitar Festival Composition Competition. He has performed electroacoustic works for trumpet and presented his own music at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar, Electronic Music Midwest, Electroacoustic Barn Dance, NYCEMF, N_SEME, and SEAMUS festivals. Sam and his music have also been featured by the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance (KcEMA) and Fulcrum Point Discoveries. Sam is a member of Arcus Collective, Kludge, and SPLICE Ensemble. Sam has performed with Contemporaneous, Metropolis Ensemble, TILT Brass, the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra, and the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra. Sam has degrees in both performance and composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and graduate degrees in Trumpet Performance and Computer Music Composition at Indiana University. He is on faculty at SPLICE Institute and Molloy College.