Program:
Jean-Phlippe Rameau La Triomphante

The Nouvelle Suite "La Triomphante" in A minor by Jean-Philippe Rameau was originally written for solo harpsichord. Akropolis recasts the suite for its unique instrumentation, arranged by Raaf Hekkema, bringing ear-opening ideas and sounds to this already masterful music. This massive work displays many of the impressive musical qualities that have attracted audiences to Baroque music for over 300 years. Rameau and the French Baroque tradition are rooted in rhythm and ornamentation, contrasting Bach’s German style centered upon harmony and counterpoint.

Derrick Skye A Soulful Nexus

From the composer: "A Soulful Nexus is a transcultural classical work that blends elements of Persian classical music with ornamental vocal techniques found in solo Balkan vocal melodies and the groove-based polyrhythms characteristic of electronic dance music. From Persian classical music, the piece uses an E koron, which to the Western trained ear may sound like a flat microtonal pitch. However, in Persian classical music, a koron is considered its own note, not a microtone between notes. Sonically, this demonstrates how something initially perceived as an imperfection, over time and with change in perspective, can be seen as an aspect of perfection.

Central to A Soulful Nexus is the use of the melodic framework Gushé Shekaste from Persian classical music, which includes the E koron. Shekaste translated means "broken," due to the relationship between the main tetrachord and auxiliary notes of this melodic framework. Throughout the piece, Morakab-Navazie is used to move between Gushé Shekaste and Darâmad Dastgâh-e Mahur and Dastgâh-e Râstpanjgâh. The fourth movement in particular is inspired by Afro-Persian music from Southern Iran. From Balkan music, the piece uses mordents and fragmented motivic phrasing often used by solo vocalists in Bulgarian women's choir music. From electronic dance music, A Soulful Nexus uses cyclical, groove-based polyrhythms to accompany instrumental solos. The title A Soulful Nexus serves as an invitation for listeners and performers to trace the intricate pathways of these musical idioms interwoven throughout the composition."

Ryan Lindveit Venus of Willendorf

From the composer: “I first learned about the Venus of Willendorf, a 30,000-year-old, 4.4-inch carved limestone figure found in Austria, in an art history class in 2014, and so it was with tremendous sense of anticipation and excitement that I approached visiting the Natural History Museum Vienna, where the figure is currently exhibited, ten years later. In the same spirit of joyful enthusiasm, I composed Venus of Willendorf for the Akropolis Reed Quintet, a group of musicians who eagerly tackle every musical challenge with artistry and aplomb. The origins of the Venus figurine are mysterious, as is its meaning, though some scholars theorize that it is associated with fertility, growth, and vitality. In response to this theory, I composed exuberant and vigorous music for these talented musicians. Additionally, the Venus is both quite tiny and amply voluptuous, so I often simultaneously feature high notes in the oboe with low notes in the bass clarinet to reflect metaphorical mappings of high sounds with small things and low sounds with large things.”

George Gershwin An American in Paris

In An American in Paris, Gershwin aimed to create one of his more serious works despite his natural affinity for frivolity. He consulted Ravel about this conundrum, who wisely instructed that if Gershwin was making more money than Ravel (which he was), he shouldn't change how he writes his music. He sought advice from Nadia Boulanger, the great teacher of Aaron Copland and others. She also wisely suggested to Gershwin try to be no one but Gershwin. And so, using complex motivic development which is constantly modulating and changing form, Gershwin manages to create his most accessible, but simultaneously most complex piece of music. Among the challenges Dutch saxophonist Raaf Hekkema faced in arranging the work was how to convey these ideas with only 5 instruments. Hekkema brilliantly takes a smaller color palette and combines the instruments to create more textural possibilities than the listener could ever predict. In ways, while Gershwin's orchestration maximizes the orchestra's capabilities, the listener might find Gershwin's ideas even easier to deduce in the chamber music format. The continually repeating and evolving motives make for a challenging but thrilling performance which Akropolis is delighted to bring to the stage.

The Grammy award-winning Akropolis Reed Quintet presents a program which honors the coming 2026 celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. A melting pot of cultures, each work on the program celebrates a different element of the colorful fabric of American identity. The centerpiece is “A Soulful Nexus,” by Derrick Skye, melding Persian Classical and American electronic dance music, commissioned with support of the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning program.

Program

Masterworks

Maurice Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin arr. Raaf Hekkema
Omar Thomas: Moods and Attitudes
Derrick Skye: A Soulful Nexus
George Gershwin: An American in Paris arr. Raaf Hekkema

The centerpiece of this concert is a newly commissioned 35 minute work entitled “Mass” by Detroit-based composer Harriet Steinke, designed to be performed in reverberant spaces like the historic Advent Lutheran Church in New York City. 

Akropolis returns to their alma matter for a series of activities surround their recipient of the 2025 Paul M. Boylan Alumni Award

"It is a tremendous honor to be the first ensemble to ever receive this prestigious alumni award. We owe so much to the U-M faculty and community for bringing the five of us together, and for their unwavering support of our ambition to succeed with our reed quintet, an unheard-of chamber ensemble when we were students. To receive this accolade over a decade later means so much to the five of us. Thank you!" ~Akropolis