The “sonically daring ensemble” (BBC Music Magazine) returns to the KCH stage with a program centered upon a new work composed for their Together We Sound festival with support of the National Endowment for the Arts, composed by Stephanie Ann Boyd and entitled Lake of Muses, featuring 5 movements about the 5 Great Lakes.

Celebrating their 16th season as “a sonically daring ensemble who specializes in performing new works with charisma and integrity” (BBC Music Magazine), the Akropolis Reed Quintet comprises five reed players and entrepreneurs unbounded by limits or categorization. Described by The Wire as a “collective voice driven by real excitement and a sense of adventure,” Akropolis has graced the Classical Billboard Charts with each of their last three albums, including #2 in April, 2024. Winner of seven national chamber music prizes including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal, Akropolis is known for performing “works that brilliantly exploit their unique instrumentation” (Gramophone). Composed of the same five members that brought about its founding in 2009, Akropolis delivers 120 concerts and educational events worldwide each year and has premiered and commissioned more than 150 works by living artists and composers. 

Experimenters and creators at their core, the five artists of Akropolis are routinely lauded for their boldness and innovative spirit. As The Wire commented: “There’s nothing tentative in their approach, and that extends to their programming of multifariously challenging and imaginative new works.” Akropolis has collaborated with poets, a metal fabricator, dancers, small business owners, string quartets, pop vocalists, and others from all walks of life. The ensemble’s 6th album, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?, with two-time GRAMMY-nominated composer/pianist Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman, was released in April 2024 on Bright Shiny Things. 

The quintet is also known for powerful collaborations with youth and others within its Detroit community. Certified as a 510(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Akropolis is the recipient of the 2015 Fischoff Educator Award, as well as seven consecutive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. The ensemble runs a Detroit-based summer festival called Together We Sound and holds annual, school year-long music composition residencies at Cass Tech, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Detroit School of Arts high schools. Akropolis also produces the Akropolis Chamber Music Institute, a 10-day artist training and mentorship program in Petoskey, MI.

Described as “pure gold” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Akropolis Reed Quintet performs worldwide and is represented exclusively by Ariel Artists. 

Program:

Maurice Ravel: “Toccata” from Le Tombeau de Couperin
Derrick Skye: A Soulful Nexus 
Stephanie Ann Boyd: Lake of Muses (world premiere) 
Jeff Scott: Homage to Paradise Valley 

Lake of Muses is premiered with support of the National Endowment for the Arts. Homage to Paradise Valley and A Soulful Nexus are made possible with support of the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous support of the Mellon Foundation. 

This concert is generously supported by Series Sponsors, University Musical Society

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