ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Born in Motown, Lisa Kaplan is Eighth Blackbird’s pianist and one of its co-founders. As executive director, Lisa works with 8BB’s board of directors and artistic director to develop long- and short-range plans to meet the organization’s goals, and she oversees fundraising, marketing, finance, and operations. As musical artist, she has won numerous awards, performed all over the country and has premiered new pieces by hundreds of composers, including Andy Akiho, Jennifer Higdon, Amy Beth Kirsten, David Lang, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, George Perle, Steve Reich and Pamela Z. Lisa has had the great pleasure to collaborate and make music with an eclectic array of incredibly talented people – Laurie Anderson, Jeremy Denk, Bryce Dessner, Philip Glass, Bon Iver, Glenn Kotche, Shara Nova, Will Oldham, Natalie Portman, Dawn Upshaw and Michael Ward-Bergeman to name a few. As a new mom, she has been having an incredible time raising and learning from her happy-go-lucky and feisty toddler, Frida. Lisa is a true foodie, gourmet cook, avid reader, crossword and Scrabble addict, enjoys baking ridiculously complicated pastry and loves outdoor adventures. She has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, braved the Australian outback, stared an enormous elephant in the face in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater, and survived close encounters with grizzly bears in the Brooks Range of Alaska.
Justin Peters is a percussionist, composer, and producer based in Chicago. As a performer, he splits his time between the classical and pop music worlds, appearing with groups such as Eighth Blackbird and Third Coast Percussion, as well as local pop outfits Family of Geniuses and Villekulla. He has premiered works by composers such as Nico Muhly, Richard Reed Parry, and Juri Seo. His debut solo album Kinesthetics was released in February of 2022. Justin is an alumnus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.