Tim Gocklin, Oboe – Kari Landry, Clarinet – Matt Landry, Saxophone –
Andrew Koeppe, Bass Clarinet – Ryan Reynolds, Bassoon
Founded in 2009, the GRAMMY® Award-winning, Billboard charting, 7-time national prize winning Akropolis Reed Quintet is
“a sonically daring ensemble who specializes in performing new works with charisma and integrity”
(BBC Music Magazine).
Ensemble Biography (289 words)
Akropolis performing on the UMS Chamber Series in 2023. Founded in 2009, the GRAMMY® Award-winning Akropolis Reed Quintet is “a sonically daring ensemble who specializes in performing new works with charisma and integrity” (BBC Music Magazine). Comprising five reed players and entrepreneurs unbounded by limits or categorization, Akropolis has graced the Classical Billboard Charts with each of their last three albums, including #2 in April, 2024, and has won seven national chamber music prizes including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal. Having premiered and commissioned more than 200 works by living artists and composers, they are pioneers and champions of a new genre of classical music—the reed quintet.
Composed of the same five members that brought about its founding over 15 years ago at the University of Michigan, they are the first ensemble to receive the University's Paul M. Boylan Alumni Award. Akropolis delivers 120 concerts and educational events worldwide each year at luminary series including Tanglewood, Bravo! Vail, University Musical Society, Chamber Music Northwest, and more. Akropolis became the first ever GRAMMY® winning reed quintet with their 2024 album, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?, in collaboration with Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman, taking home Best Instrumental Composition for the track “Strands” at the 67th Grammy Awards held in February, 2025.
Utilizing their “sheer musical imagination” (Gramophone), the quintet is also known for powerful collaborations with youth and others within its Southeast Michigan community. Certified as a 510(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Akropolis runs a Detroit-based summer festival called Together We Sound, holds an annual, school year-long music composition residencies at Cass Tech, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Detroit School of Arts high schools, and produces a 10-day Chamber Music Institute focused on artist training and mentorship in Petoskey, MI.
Described as “pure gold” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Akropolis Reed Quintet performs worldwide and is represented exclusively by Ariel Artists.
Our History with Akropolis…
Akropolis at the University of Michigan in 2010
Our first Akropolis photo shoot in 2011
Akropolis visiting the Empty Quarter in 2017 while performing with Chamber Music Abu Dhabi2025: Winner of the GRAMMY® Award for Best Instrumental Composition for “Strands” from our 6th album, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?, released April 2024 on Bright Shiny Things, in collaboration with composer/pianist Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman
2025: Received $75,000 Matching Grant from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation
2024: Are We Dreaming The Same Dream? debuted at #2 on Classical Billboard Charts
2024: Performed at Muziekgebow in Amsterdam under USArtists International Auspices alongside the Calefax Reed Quintet
2024: Hired first non-quintet staff person, Deanna Sirkot, as Operations and Development Manager
2023: Became the first reed quintet to ever debut on the UMS (University Musical Society) Series
2023: Received our 2nd Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant with composer Derrick Skye
2022: Released Hymns for Private Use with soprano Shara Nova and 7 small business owners Across America which debut #8 on Classical Billboard Charts
2022: Inaugural Akropolis Chamber Music Institute in Petoskey, MI in partnership with the Bay View Music Festival
2021: Released Ghost Light which debut at #14 on Classical Billboard Charts
2020: Inaugural Mastermind career development program
2019: Received a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant with composer Jeff Scott
2017: Released The Space Between Us
2016: Started our Together We Sound festival and high school composition residency in Detroit
2016: Received our first grants from the Michigan Arts and Cultural Council and National Endowment for the Arts
2015: Awarded the Fischoff National Educators Award
2015/16: Founded our nonprofit organization
2014: Won the Fischoff Gold Medal, now having won prizes at 7 major chamber music competitions. We also released our album Unraveled
2013: Began working with Ariel Artists booking agency
2012: Released our first album High Speed Reed made up of all contemporary works and 50% Akropolis commissions. Ran a Kickstarter to fund a 10-school education tour in Michigan
2010/11: Grand Prize at both the Plowman and MTNA Competitions
2008/2009: Founded at the University of Michigan with the same members as today