Grammy award-winning eighth blackbird's mission is to create high quality new music experiences that are unique, entertaining and relevant to all audiences.

The contemporary chamber music sextet will perform Sunday, October 4, at 3 p.m. in UNC Pembroke’s Moore Hall. The concert, part of the Moore Hall Recital Series, is free and the public is welcome.

Hailed as “friendly, unpretentious, idealistic and highly skilled” by The New Yorker, eighth blackbird is widely lauded for its unusual performing style - often playing from memory with virtuosic and theatrical flair - and its efforts to make new music accessible to wide audiences.

Their CD “strange imaginary animals” won two Grammy awards in 2008, including Best Chamber Music Performance. eighth blackbird has been featured on CBS's Sunday Morning and Bloomberg News, and is represented by Opus 3 Artists.

They are: Tim Munro, flutes; Michael J. Maccaferri, clarinets; Matt Albert, violin and viola; Nicholas Photinos, cello; Matthew Duvall, percussion: and Lisa Kaplan, piano.

The group delivers provocative and engaging performances to its burgeoning audiences. Combining bracing virtuosity with an alluring sense of irreverence, the sextet debunks the myth that contemporary music is only for a cerebral few.

The ensemble attracts fans of all ages to its performances and recordings, which sparkle with wit and pound with physical energy; it inhabits and explores the sound-world of new music with comfort, conviction, and infectious enthusiasm. The New York Times 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.”

Since its founding in 1996, eighth blackbird has actively commissioned and recorded new works from such eminent composers as Steve Reich, George Perle, Frederic Rzewski, and Joseph Schwantner, and has commissioned groundbreaking works from a younger generation. They are well-trained, well-traveled and have won many awards.

Next up for the Recital Series is the International Chamber Artists, a chamber music ensemble, on Wednesday, October 21, at 10:15 a.m. The Tully-Hull Flute and Guitar Duo will perform Wednesday, November 18 at 10:15 a.m.