15 Concerts & Events
Summer 2021
Built by Akropolis in 2017, this festival uses new music wind power to bring people together.
It features world premieres in collaboration with local and national artists and Detroit youth, concerts for businesses and essential workers, pop-up shows in public spaces, K-12 outreach, public performances, and a school year-length residency at three Detroit high schools.
Why Together We Sound
2021 Festival Artists + Composers + Collaborators
Akropolis Reed Quintet
Annika Socolofsky, Composer
XUAN,
Filmmaker and New Media Artist
Hou de Sousa, Light Architects
Marsha Music, Poet
April Anderson, Good Cakes and Bakes
Kay Willingham, Art in Motion
Garnette Archer, Jo’s Gallery
Sabrina Swain, Narrow Way Cafe
Katherine Pukinskis, Composer
2021 Concerts & Events
Public Concerts
Outdoor Concert at Beacon Park +
Hou de Sousa Installation
6:30 - 8 PM FREE OUTDOOR CONCERT!
(Hou de Sousa remarks at 6:30 pm, Akropolis performance to follow)
The Akropolis Reed Quintet teams up with New York City-based design studio Hou de Sousa for a collaborative evening of light and music beneath the glow of the ultraviolet and surreal beacon installed by the award winning Nancy Hou and Josh de Sousa. The concert features works from their acclaimed and just-released 4th album, Ghost Light!
Pop-Up Concert at the Dequindre Cut Freight Yard
1 PM FREE OUTDOOR CONCERT!
Akropolis is popping back up for a spontaneous concert on the best bike path in Detroit! This pop-up show is designed so people can bike up to Dequindre Cut Freight Yard, just outside of the iconic Eastern Market, and gather together to enjoy inventive and interactive public art, music, drinks, and the beautiful greenway. The concert features works from their acclaimed and just-released 4th album, Ghost Light!
Community Concert at Jo's Gallery
3 PM & 6 PM TWO FREE CONCERTS!
The final concert of Akropolis' 2021 TWS Festival, you’re invited to hear Detroit’s own Akropolis Reed Quintet and poet Marsha Music in concert at the legendary Jo’s Gallery on Livernois Ave. This concert will feature the world premiere of so much more by Annika Socolofsky which weaves together interviews collected by Akropolis from four Avenue of Fashion business owners, celebrating their experiences, and what it means to be a small business owner today in America.
Local poet and author Marsha Music will also join Akropolis on stage to recite her new epic poem, “The Valley, The Bottom, and Hastings Street” alongside a composition commissioned by Akropolis to celebrate the Paradise Valley and Black Bottom neighborhoods of Detroit, entitled “Homage to Paradise Valley” by composer Jeff Scott.
Akropolis will also be performing brief compositions by Detroit high school students who worked with Akropolis online throughout the 19/20 school year. The concert is FREE! However, space is limited to 50 people, so we’re asking folks to RSVP here to reserve your seat.
Essential Workers Series
For the past 4 years, Akropolis has presented free concerts and lunch to a variety of businesses in Detroit. These "Lunch & Listen" concerts have been reimagined for the 2021 festival to take place and directly benefit 3 businesses and their employees who have done critical, essential work, for our community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authority Health
12 PM - 2 PM at William Milliken Park
Private Event
Authority Health is a Detroit health facility specializing in community based pediatrics, family medicine, internal medicine, and psychiatric care. On June 10th, Akropolis will perform for both the Psychiatry Residents on staff, celebrating those who have graduated, and the patients and youth they care for.
The Health Center at McKenny
3:30 PM at the McKenny Development Center
Private Event
A part of Authority Health, the Health Center at McKenny is full service family medical clinic provides services to meet the needs of individuals and families in our Detroit community. On June 15th, Akropolis will perform for the hard working staff in the Development Center.
Garden City Hospital
12:15 pm at The Garden City Hospital (2 lunch time performances)
Private Event
Garden City Hospital is a state-of-the-art medical facility and a source of health education for the people they serve. In 2014, they joined Prime Healthcare Services, one of the nation's fastest growing healthcare providers with more than 43,500 employees who deliver high-quality care and contribute to their local neighborhoods every day. On June 16th, Akropolis will perform two lunch-time shows in the hospital cafeteria for the off duty staff.
Henry Ford Hospital
12:00 pm at The Garden City Hospital (2 lunch time performances)
Private Event
Garden City Hospital is a state-of-the-art medical facility and a source of health education for the people they serve. In 2014, they joined Prime Healthcare Services, one of the nation's fastest growing healthcare providers with more than 43,500 employees who deliver high-quality care and contribute to their local neighborhoods every day. Akropolis will perform a lunch-time outdoor show in the hospital's outdoor coutyard area between the Innovation Institute and Education Research Buildings for the off duty staff and any families currently visiting the hospital.
Educational Events
Detroit School of Arts
12:20 PM (Virtual Presentation)
This is the culminating visit of Akropolis' year-long residency with the music students at DSA! At this virtual presentation, Akropolis will showcase the compositions created by DSA high school students this year for their fellow music and arts classmates. Videos of these premieres will be released online throughout the summer!
Cass Tech High School
8:00 AM (Virtual Presentation)
This is the culminating visit of Akropolis' year-long residency with the music students at Cass Tech! At this virtual presentation, Akropolis will showcase the compositions created by Cass Tech high school students this year for their fellow music and arts classmates. Videos of these premieres will be released online throughout the summer!
M.L.K. Jr. Senior High School
8:00 AM (Virtual Presentation)
This is the culminating visit of Akropolis' year-long residency with the music students at MLK! At this virtual presentation, Akropolis will showcase the compositions created by MLK high school students this year for their fellow music and arts classmates. Videos of these premieres will be released online throughout the summer!
Bates Elementary
Time TBD (Virtual Presentation)
Akropolis returns to Bates Elementary for an online educational concert for these hard working K-5 students, teaching them about music, storytelling, and creative expression!
John R. King Performing Arts Academy K-8
2 PM (Virtual Presentation)
Akropolis joins the K-8 students from John R. King for a virtual and interactive concert focused on how you can make music a part of your life at home this summer, and hopefully when they return to school in person this fall!
A Garden Concert with Akropolis + Living Arts
6 PM In Person Concert
Join us for a collaborative performance of music and movement with the Akropolis Reed Quintet and Living Arts' Youth Dance Ensemble set in a picturesque garden in SW Detroit. The ensembles will explore sonic landscapes with movement and play on responsive improvisation, taking turns leading and following.
World Premires & Collaborations
Akropolis Reed Quintet
Annika Socolofsky, Composer
XUAN, Filmmaker
Akropolis + Annika Socolofsky + XUAN
A visual and auditory journey, weaving live interviews from 7 small business owners in our communities into a 15-minute film and new piece of chamber music.
Akropolis, Annika, and XUAN have conducted interviews with the following 7 business owners in Detroit, Boulder, Kansas, and online on Etsy. What comes next will be a musical and visual journey celebrating these individuals' experiences, and what it means to be a small business owner today in America.
April Anderson, Good Cakes and Bakes
Kay Willingham, Art in Motion
Garnette Archer, Jo’s Gallery
Sabrina Swain, Narrow Way Cafe
Bruce Knudson, Rocking K Farms
KJ Whitney,
Prideful Wellness
Keke Liu, Keke's Wigs
Katherine Pukinskis, Composer
Puddle and Pivot
Two new companion works for reed quintet by Katherine Pukinskis that reflect our time apart and together during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pivot is the companion piece to Puddle, which was composed in the summer of 2020. Puddle was written to be compiled through a series of single-instrument recording sessions to accommodate for a necessary pandemic-related separation. Pivot was commissioned to be a piece that required Akropolis to play in-person as an ensemble. Both Puddle and Pivot will be premiered at a live concert during Together We Sound this summer.
Detroit High School Student Compositions
Akropolis has been in-residence at 3 high schools in Detroit since 2018. Each year, they help students with their own creative projects, including teaching them how to compose. Since 2017, Akropolis has helped over 25 Detroit students write pieces of music, which they premiere and record during Together We Sound.
The following students worked with Akropolis in the 20/21 academic year and will have their new piece performed and recorded during the 2021 Together We Sound Festival!
M.L.K. Jr. Senior High School Student Composers:
Bertha Owens, Daouda Kane, Namien Coburn, Aaron Coklow
Detroit School of Arts Student Composers:
Sam Pickens, Kaleb Bowdre
Cass Technical High School Student Composers:
Khyri Flounory, Alana Daniels, Don Anthony Montgomery, Adegoke Bilesanmi
Thank You to Our Festival Sponsors & Funders
