Tim Gocklin, Oboe
Known for his “remarkably beautiful oboe playing” (Fanfare Magazine), Tim Gocklin is oboist of the Akropolis Reed Quintet and serves as Artist-in-Residence in Oboe and woodwind chamber music coordinator at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, CO. Prior to his present position in Colorado, Tim lived in New Haven, CT and performed in a wide variety of settings with ensembles such as The Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Le Train Bleu, New York Chamber Soloists, Mozart Orchestra of New York under the direction of Gerard Schwarz, the Argus String Quartet, and The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.
Tim is a two-time winner of the Yale School of Music’s Chamber Music Competition. In 2013, he performed works by Hindemith in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall as part of the Yale in New York series. He has performed at Chamber Music Northwest with David Shifrin and oboist Allan Vogel in a program of Dvorak’s Wind Serenade, Op. 44 and Mozart’s Gran Partita in B-flat, KV 361. He has appeared at the Caramoor Festival with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Cape Cod Music Festival, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival under the direction of Peter Oundjian, and held fellowships at the Norfolk and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals.
Tim can be heard on the NAXOS and Block M record labels, including two recordings with the University of Michigan Symphony Band. These works were taken on a tour to China where the band performed at Beijing’s National Centre for the Arts and Shanghai’s Grand Theatre.
In 2012, Tim received his Bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the University of Michigan where he studied with Dr. Nancy Ambrose King. He subsequently completed his Master of Music degree and an Artist Diploma at Yale University studying with Stephen Taylor.
Kari Landry, Clarinet
Kari Landry is a Backun Artist and clarinetist of the Akropolis Reed Quintet, as well as the Marketing and Development Manager of Akropolis’ 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. She manages the organization’s branding, marketing, web design, advertising, social media, fundraising, and more. Since 2016, Kari has been an intermediate lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance where she teaches music entrepreneurship courses.
For six years, Kari served as the Marketing & Programs Manager for the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, a month-long arts and music festival that presents over 175 free concerts and events. She oversaw the organization’s annual $100,000 marketing budget, created its digital and print content, managed press and advertising efforts, and programmed over 50 artistic, educational, and community events. While working in Ann Arbor, Kari received a Michigan EMMY for best historical documentary for her work on A Space for Music, A Seat for Everyone, showcasing 100 Years of University Musical Society Performances in Hill Auditorium. She has also been an intern at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Kari received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in clarinet performance from the University of Michigan, studying with Cleveland Orchestra clarinetist Dan Gilbert. Committed to increasing arts access within communities, Kari earned an additional Masters Degree in Arts Administration from Eastern Michigan University.
Kari attended the Aspen Music Festival for two summers during college and was the E-flat clarinetist in the University of Michigan Symphony Band’s 2011 tour to China, performing in “The Giant Egg” National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing and Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Kari owes her musical success to her instructors Dan Gilbert, Chad Burrow, Ted Oien, and Suzy Dennis-Bratton.
Matt Landry, Saxophone
Matt Landry is the Akropolis Reed Quintet’s saxophonist and Executive Director of Akropolis’ 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Matt was selected by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs as a 2018/19 Rising Leader among arts and cultural organizations in Michigan. He is a former middle school band director and worked as a community engagement specialist for the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce for four years. He teaches two courses for music majors at Michigan State University on entrepreneurship and fundraising and leads dozens of arts entrepreneurship workshops each year at universities nationwide.
Matt has been featured on several concerts with the Michigan Philharmonic Orchestra, including Milhaud’s La Création du Monde, which he also performed in Portland, OR with eminent chamber musicians including Jennifer Frautschi and Tara Helen O’Connor. He has also performed Bernstein’s On the Town with the Dearborn Symphony. As well as Akropolis’ three studio albums, he can be heard on two CDs produced by the UM Symphony Band under the Equilibrium Records label, Raise the Roof and Classic Structures. He was also an adjudicator for the 2019 Chamber Music Yellow Springs National Chamber Music Competition.
Matt received his Bachelor’s degree Summa Cum Laude in Music Education and Saxophone from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Donald Sinta. He was a James B. Angell Scholar and commencement flag bearer.
Ryan Reynolds, Bassoon
The Akropolis Reed Quintet’s bassoonist, Dr. Ryan Reynolds, is Lecturer of Bassoon at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI. He received his education at the Interlochen Arts Academy (‘08), University of Michigan (BM ‘12, MM ‘14), and Florida State University (DM ‘17) where he studied with Eric Stomberg, Jeffrey Lyman, and Jeff Keesecker.
As a performer, Dr. Reynolds has won many awards with Akropolis, and in 2018, his collaboration with legendary clarinetist David Shifrin on the studio recording of a new chamber music version of Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto was released on Delos Records and nominated for an International Classical Music Award. Additionally, Reynolds has performed on occasion with orchestras throughout the United States including the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra.
An educator, Dr. Reynolds is on the summer faculty of the Renova Music Festival, and has given masterclasses and lectures in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and at many top American universities, including the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University. Reynolds was a judge for the junior level at the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and was Akropolis’ representative to judge the Barlow Endowment’s first prize for a reed quintet commission the same year.
Reynolds contributes to the International Double Reed Society as the Lead Bassoon Recordings Reviewer for the quarterly journal The Double Reed, and as an officer on the IDRS Commissioning Sub-Committee. At the Society’s conference at Granada, Spain in 2018, he premiered composer Ethan Wickman’s Cuatro Escanas del Cante Jondo for bassoon and piano, Per Bloland’s Asemic Patterns for oboe and bassoon, and Chiel Meijering’s the green reed which blows in the wind for 12 bassoons and string orchestra. At the Society’s 2019 conference in Tampa, FL, Dr. Reynolds performed a set of masterworks for the reed quintet to a full house with Akropolis.
Andrew Koeppe, Bass Clarinet
The Akropolis Reed Quintet’s bass clarinetist and an Ann Arbor, MI native, Andrew Koeppe majored in clarinet at the University of Michigan and studied with Chad Burrow, Deborah Chodacki, and Monica Kaenzig. Andrew can be heard on two University of Michigan Symphony Band albums, including interactions with acclaimed soloists Nancy Ambrose King and Adam Unsworth, as well as the premiere of William Bolcom’s Symphony for Band. He was the featured clarinet soloist in Bolcom’s band orchestration of “Graceful Ghost Rag” on the University of Michigan Symphony Band CD release, Artifacts. He has also performed with the Final Fantasy Symphony in Ann Arbor and with New Music Detroit, performing Annie Gosfield’s Detroit Industry at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Andrew also attended the Buffet-Crampon USA Clarinet Academy in Jacksonville, FL in 2009 where he studied with clarinetists Eugene Mondie, Dan Gilbert, Andre Moisan, and Ixi Chen. In 2009 he played principal clarinet and bass clarinet in a small orchestral ensemble of select University of Michigan students in a weeklong multimedia workshop and final performance of Ask Your Mama with composer Laura Carpman, curator Jessye Norman, and conductor George Manahan. This new work later premiered at Carnegie Hall.
Andrew enjoys teaching a large and exuberant studio of clarinet and bass clarinet players in Ann Arbor, MI.