To book an Akropolis concerto, contact Matthew Kulas at Ariel Artists.
matthew@arielartists.com / (617) 213-0378
Having premiered more than 70 new works and in celebration of our 10th anniversary, we are proud to announce two new reed quintet concerti for Akropolis and wind band by composers Roshanne Etezady and Peter Terry. Co-commissioned by Akropolis and the University of Michigan’s H. Robert Reynolds Commissioning Fund, we premiered Etezady’s concerto, Storm Warning, on February 7, 2020 with the University of Michigan Symphony Band—the ensemble in which the five of us met ten years ago—under the direction of our long-time mentor and teacher, Professor Michael Haithcock. Commissioned by Akropolis, we premiered Terry’s concerto, Dawn to Dance, with the Detroit School of Arts high school wind ensemble at a side-by-side concert with Detroit Public Schools students on April 16, 2019.
Storm Warning celebrates the University of Michigan band program that helped launch our career. In Professor Haithcock’s band we learned how preparation, teamwork, and unity make a significant impact on the music we make together. We were thrilled to return to our alma mater to collaborate with students in a way that helped them understand where these skills can take them. We gave an encore premiere performance at Syracuse University with the Syracuse Wind Ensemble with Dr. Bradley Ethington on February 27th, 2020.
Since September 2018 and because of generous support from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, we have been in residence at Detroit School of Arts, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cass Tech high schools in Detroit, mirroring our professional activity through creative projects with youth. We commissioned composer Peter Terry to write a new concerto for Akropolis and high school band, Dawn to Dance, which we premiered with students at Detroit School of Arts on April 16, 2019. Students received hands-on experience with Terry generating the themes and musical ideas for the piece. Terry’s concerto celebrates these dedicated students, the city of Detroit, and our decade-long commitment to K-12 education.
Storm Warning Performances
February 7th, 2020: University of Michigan Symphony Band
February 27th, 2020: Syracuse University Wind Ensemble
Dawn to Dance Performances
April 16th, 2019: Detroit School of Arts Band
May 12th, 2020: Livonia Churchill Wind Ensemble (MI) (postponed)
About the Composers
Roshanne Etezady‘s music has been described in Fanfare magazine as “fresh, effusive, and immediately likable,” and she has been hailed by the Detroit Free Press as “a promising and confident composer.” Her music ranges from clever and colorful to sublimely subdued; it combines lyricism with rhythmic intensity and engages performers and audiences alike.
Etezady’s works have been commissioned by the United States Military Band at West Point, the Albany Symphony, Dartmouth Symphony, eighth blackbird, Music at the Anthology, and the PRISM Saxophone Quartet. She has been a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Performers and ensembles including the American Composers’ Orchestra, Rêlache, Amadinda Percussion Ensemble, Ensemble De Ereprijs, and the Dogs of Desire have performed Etezady’s music throughout the United States and Europe. Etezady’s music has earned recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Korean Society of 21st Century Music, the Jacob K. Javits Foundation, Meet the Composer, and ASCAP.
An active teacher, Etezady has taught at Northwestern University, Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Interlochen Arts Camp, Yale University, Saint Mary’s College, and the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. She has given masterclasses at California State University-Long Beach, Holy Cross College, the Juilliard School, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. She holds academic degrees from Northwestern University, Yale University, and the University of Michigan.
Peter Terry is an award-winning composer, conductor and educator. He holds a bachelor’s degree in trumpet from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in music composition and theory from Bowling Green State University, and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in music composition and theory with an emphasis in computer music synthesis and applications.
Dr. Terry’s compositions have been performed and broadcast worldwide and appear on numerous contest and festival required music lists. With over 50 works published by Carl Fischer, Excelcia Music, BRS Music, and Music for Percussion, Inc., Dr. Terry is sought out for commissions by numerous chamber groups, choirs, concert bands and orchestras. He is accomplished at every level of ensemble writing from beginner to middle school, high school and advanced ensembles. His music is colorful, dramatic, and characterized by a rhythmic verve and a deep lyricism that shows the influences of American popular music, world music and American classical composers such as Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber. He is particularly proud of the emphasis on playability and melodic interest for all the instruments in his compositions.
Dr. Terry has served on the faculties of the University of Texas at Austin, Cal State-Los Angeles, Bowling Green State University and Bluffton University. He served on the composition/theory faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp from 1991-2017.