Akropolis is unstoppable! In 2018, we gave more performances than any year in our history, reaching 9,000 people from Long Island, NY to the California coast. We premiered 12 new works, started our own contemporary music festival in Detroit, and shared sheet music with over 40 new reed quintets around the globe. We received a coveted Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant and premiered the $12,000 Barlow Prize-winning composition, Rites for the Afterlife. In short, we made the reed quintet stick.

But, we’re most proud of what we accomplished outside the concert hall. Because of YOU, we delivered 76 educational events this year and reached over 11,000 K-12 and college students. 26 of these events were funded by more than $13,000 donated to our 2017 year-end campaign.

Planning for dozens more meaningful educational events in 2019, and with each event costing Akropolis roughly $500, our goal is to raise $15,000 by year-end, funding one third of our 2019 educational activities. Simply put, we need your support to make our educational programming happen next year.

In 2018, our goal was to impact more pre-professional musicians and composers. We were invited to adjudicate some of the very competitions that put us on the map, and even gave a keynote presentation at the Florida Music Educators Association conference on incorporating chamber music into K-12 curricula. We conducted workshops with dozens of university-aged composers around the country, publishing and touring some of their music. A true highlight was helping three Detroit high school students compose music for Akropolis, premiering their works for a standing-room only crowd at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Undergraduate student composer, Becky Turro, shared the following about her experience working with Akropolis at Connecticut Summerfest:

“Collaborating with Akropolis has been the most fortunate and inspiring experience of my life so far. They have shared my music and my story to countless people who I may never even meet. As an emerging composer, the opportunity to write for a professional ensemble has opened my eyes to the possibilities of having a successful career making music.”