The new “Eighth Blackbird Presents: The Chicago Artists Workshop” (CAW) live stream concert series continues with Rebecca Rego in a concert inspired by Lucia Berlin’s book, “Songs for Cleaning Women,” 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov 11. The event will feature readings of passages from Berlin’s book by Chicago actor Leah Casey and celebrates the release of Rego’s new album, “Songs for Cleaning Women Pt. 1.” Limited in-person seating is available. For more information visit eighthblackbird.com.
Rebecca Rego has been a Midwest-based singer-songwriter, recording artist, and producer for more than 15 years. She has written and recorded eight albums and toured the country many times over, in solo performances and with her Chicago-based band The Trainmen. In 2014, a mysterious package arrived on Rego’s doorstep. In it was Lucia Berlin’s short story collection, “A Manual for Cleaning Women.” The note simply said, “I think you’ll love this.” As Rego began picking through the dark, witty, romantic prose, the stories slowly began to seep into her consciousness and affect her songwriting. After a few years, she realized she had created a unique set of songs based on Berlin’s book.
In the fall of 2019, Rego traveled to Northern California, where a handful of Berlin’s stories take place, and recorded six of these songs at Panoramic Studio in Stinson Beach with engineer Beau Sorenson (Death Cab For Cutie, tUnE-yArDs) backed by multi-instrumentalist J. Tom Hnatow (Horse Feathers, Ringo Starr,) and Alysia Kraft, Staci Foster and Tobias Bank of the Fort Collins Colo.-based band, Whippoorwill. The resulting album, “Songs for Cleaning Women Pt. 1,” will be released Nov. 11, and celebrated in Rego’s live streamed “Chicago Artists Workshop” series performance.
As an independent female artist, Rego is influenced by the unflinching, raw honesty found in Berlin’s art. Many of Berlin’s stories are semi-autobiographical accounts of her time working blue-collar jobs, raising four children as a single mother, and dealing with her own alcoholism. Berlin died in 2004, never receiving critical acclaim in her own lifetime. Rego’s goal with this release is to pay homage to Berlin’s stories and introduce new audiences to her work.
Leah Casey is a Chicago-based actress, writer, and dancer with a love for fictional podcasts. Credits include Manual Cinema’s “Frankenstein,” adapted from the book by Mary Shelly; Court Theatre’s production of “For Colored Girls” by Ntozake Shange and William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” with Teatro Vista. Casey holds a BA in Acting from University of Illinois at Chicago. When not on stage, she can be heard as Rebecca Neil, a reporter for The Onion's daily news podcast, “The Topical” or working with the cast of “Project STELLAR”, a science fiction podcast.
Tickets
The 7 p.m., Nov. 11 concert featuring Rebecca Rego with Leah Casey will be staged at the Eighth Blackbird production facility located at 4045 N. Rockwell St. This live streamed ticketed event will also feature limited in-person seating. Recommended ticket price is $20, but options include choosing a price as well contributing as a supporter. For tickets and more information visit www.eighthblackbird.org.
About CAW
Eighth Blackbird, debuts a new project this fall entitled “Eighth Blackbird Presents: The Chicago Artists Workshop” (CAW). Remaining 2020 concerts include singer songwriter Rebecca Rego (Wednesday, Nov. 11): three-time GRAMMY Award-nominee Justin Roberts and cellist Anna Steinhoff (Wednesday, Nov. 18): pianist and media artist Xuan (Tuesday, Dec. 1) and Image Award-winning poet, artist, musician, author and actor J. Ivy (Tuesday, Dec. 8). Artists/dates/times are subject to change. For tickets or more information visit www.eighthblackbird.org. CAW is made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
About Eighth Blackbird
Eighth Blackbird is “one of the smartest, most dynamic contemporary classical ensembles on the planet” (Chicago Tribune). Launched in 1996 by six committed Oberlin Conservatory undergraduates, this Chicago-based super-group has earned its status as “a brand-name…defined by adventure, vibrancy and quality…” (Detroit Free Press).
Eighth Blackbird has since evolved from ensemble to institution, currently realizing its mission through five initiatives: Eighth Blackbird, the award-winning sextet; Blackbird IV, a piano/percussion duo featuring founding members Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall; the Blackbird Creative Lab, the organization's mentoring arm; Blackbird Productions, a designation for wide-ranging creative projects; and the Chicago Artists Workshop, a streaming platform created to support artists.
Recent achievements include a fourth GRAMMY Award, the inaugural Chamber Music America Visionary Award, an Ensemble of the Year Award from Musical America, and the prestigious MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. In 2017, the company launched the Blackbird Creative Lab, a tuition-free summer training program, alumni network, and career support platform for emerging professionals focused on cutting edge musicianship, dynamic performance aesthetic, and savvy entrepreneurship.
Set to celebrate its 25th Anniversary in 2021, Eighth Blackbird continues to fuel the modern canon it helped engine with hundreds of commissioned and premiered works by dozens of composers including Viet Cuong, Pamela Z, Bryce Dessner, Jennifer Higdon, Amy Beth Kirsten, David Lang, Andy Akiho, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, and Steve Reich, whose commissioned work, Double Sextet, went on to win the Pulitzer Prize (2009). A long-term relationship with Chicago’s Cedille Records has produced ten acclaimed recordings and four impressive GRAMMY Awards for Best Small Ensemble/Chamber Music Performance. Eighth Blackbird's most recent album, “Singing in the Dead of Night” by Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Michael Gordon, was released by Cedille in June 2020.
The group's latest venture is the inaugural 2020–2021 Chicago Artists Workshop, a full season presenting 24 online concerts with a stellar lineup of featured artists as well as a residency program offering studio space and technical support to area artists. For more information about Eighth Blackbird visit www.eighthblackbird.org and visit them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter #eighthblackbird.