The UT San Antonio School of Music will celebrate contemporary composers and new creative works at the university’s annual New Music (NuMu) Festival from March 2-5. Throughout the four-day festival, audiences will experience performances by UT San Antonio faculty, chamber groups and large ensembles, highlighting both established and emerging voices in contemporary music.
NuMu concerts will be held on four consecutive nights at 7:30 p.m. at the Recital Hall in the Arts Building on the UT San Antonio Main Campus. All four performances are free and open to the public. The headlining concert on Thursday, March 5, will feature acclaimed composer Viet Cuong and the Grammy Award-winning chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird.
As the Composer in Residence, Cuong’s music will take center stage throughout the festival. Described as “alluring” and “stirring” by The New York Times, “irresistible” by the San Francisco Chronicle and “exhilarating” by the Chicago Tribune, Cuong’s work has been commissioned and performed on six continents by leading ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Kronos Quartet, Sandbox Percussion, WindSync, PRISM Quartet and Dallas Winds.
Cuong’s music have been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Lincoln Center, as well as on PBS NewsHour and NPR Music’s Tiny Desk concert series. His compositions for wind ensemble have received more than a thousand performances worldwide, including at several prominent international conferences.
Perhaps no other group has a reputation for capturing the depth, whimsy and imagination of Cuong’s compositions quite like Eighth Blackbird. The acclaimed contemporary music ensemble is known for advancing new music through innovative performances and advocacy for living composers. The ensemble’s name is drawn from Wallace Stevens’s poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, reflecting its commitment to artistic exploration and imagination. Eighth Blackbird’s members include Lina Andonovska (flutes), Zachary Good (clarinets), Maiani da Silva (violin), Aaron Wolff (cello), Matthew Duvall (percussion) and Lisa Kaplan (piano).
Eighth Blackbird’s accolades include four Grammy Awards for Best Small Ensemble/Chamber Music Performance, the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, the Concert Artists Guild Competition Grand Prize, Musical America Ensemble of the Year, the Chamber Music America Visionary Award, and the APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards Performance of the Year.
2026 New Music Festival Schedule
Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. each night in the Recital Hall at the Arts Building on the UT San Antonio Main Campus. These events are free and open to the public.
Monday, March 2
“Sounds Unseen: A Listening Experience” curated by Miles Friday, assistant professor of music
Tuesday, March 3
UT San Antonio Choirs, Art Songs and Lyric Theatre
Wednesday, March 4
UT San Antonio Symphony Orchestra and Instrumental Chamber Music
Thursday, March 5
Eighth Blackbird and Viet Cuong with the UT San Antonio Symphonic Band & Wind Symphony
