Having premiered more than 50 new works and now celebrating our 10th anniversary, we are proud to announce a new reed quintet concerti for Akropolis and wind band by composer Roshanne Etezady. Co-commissioned by Akropolis and the University of Michigan’s H. Robert Reynolds Commissioning Fund, we will premiere Etezady’s concerto 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.
Etezady’s concerto 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. As a young ensemble, we channeled these skills, and we are thrilled to return to our alma mater to collaborate with students in a way that helps them understand where these skills can take them. We are also proud to be part of the rich heritage of eminent chamber music ensembles with UM members. Etezady’s compositions for some of these very ensembles, like eighth blackbird and the PRISM Quartet, are some of our favorite contemporary works. It is a privilege to now be on the receiving end of a new Etezady composition!
About the Composer:
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.