We are excited to announce that Akropolis was selected as one of 11 grant recipients for Chamber Music America‘s Classical Commissioning Program to commission a new 25-minute reed quintet master work by composer and Imani Winds french hornist extraordinaire, Jeffrey Scott!
We have long admired Jeff and his music, having been endlessly inspired by the the Imani Winds and the legacy they have built within the chamber music landscape. We applied for the Chamber Music America grant because it gives us creative freedom to work with Jeff on a substantial new piece of music. We are excited to premiere the work in Detroit during our 2019 Together We Sound festival.
A native of Queens, NY, Jeff Scott started the French horn at age 14, receiving an anonymous gift scholarship to go to the Brooklyn College Preparatory Division. An even greater gift came from his first teacher, Carolyn Clark, who taught the young Mr. Scott for free during his high school years, giving him the opportunity to study music when resources were not available. He received his bachelor’s degree from Manhattan School of Music (studying with David Jolley), and master’s degree from SUNY at Stony Brook (studying with William Purvis). He later continued his horn studies with Scott Brubaker and the late Jerome Ashby. Mr. Scott’s performance credits are many and varied. They include The Lion King orchestra (on Broadway, New York) 1997-2005, and the 1994 revival of Showboat 1994-1997. He has been a member of the Alvin Ailey and Dance Theater of Harlem orchestras since 1995 and has performed numerous times under the direction of Wynton Marsalis with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
Mr. Scott’s arranging and composing credits are many, and include scoring the off-Broadway production of Becoming Something, The Canada Lee Story, the staged production of Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot!, and many original works for solo winds as well as wind, brass and jazz ensembles. His works are published by International Opus, Trevco Music, To The Fore Music and self-published at Music by The Breadman.
Grants for new works totaling $198,450 were awarded from Chamber Music America, which provides support to U.S.-based professional ensembles and presenters for the creation and performance of classical contemporary chamber works.