Join Akropolis, composer Jeff Scott, and Detroit poet and historian Marsha Music for an intimate and interactive concert experience described by audience members as “thrilling,” “compelling from beginning to end,” and “incredibly impactful.”

After a sold-out run of six Club Paradise Virtual Soirées in July 2020, Akropolis is taking this unique concert experience on the road! Each soirée features the exclusive debut web premiere of Jeff Scott’s 25-minute masterwork, Homage to Paradise Valley, intertwined with brand new, original poetry created for this soirée and read live by Marsha Music, Detroit’s treasured author and historian. The event also includes brief Akropolis live performances, live interviews with Jeff Scott, and an interactive Q&A and conversation with audience members.

The music, poetry, and interviews tell the story of Detroit’s Black neighborhoods and thoroughfares – Black Bottom, Paradise Valley, and Hastings Street – which were demolished in the 1950s and 60s by Detroit’s institutions of power to make way for freeway and other urban renewal projects. Once bustling with Black-owned businesses and cultural institutions, these neighborhoods are now completely gone, and the ramifications of their destruction still resonate today in Detroit and throughout society.

Selected audience reviews:

“This was the most inventive digital program that I have “attended,” because you so thoughtfully mixed together the pre-recorded performance with live performance “snippets” and included a small audience who could see each other.”

“With our days filled with Zooms and virtual connections, this soiree was balm for the soul using technology to bring us all together, provide us with new content to chew on, and inspire us with your ingenuity on how to keep creating in this challenging time.”

“What a powerful performance by everyone! I loved being part of the virtual performance.”

"You should all strongly consider attending one of Akropolis' virtual performances. I was lucky enough to catch the opening night and it was incredibly impactful."

"I highly recommend this concert. The music by Jeff Scott is fabulous, exciting, technically really interesting, and it tells the same story as the poetry of Marsha Music in that it chronicles the history of the Paradise Theater, of Hastings Street, and Black Bottom in Detroit. We may not have access to live performance right now, but this online concert was thrilling!!!!" 

Radio Interview

“Celebrating Paradise: Akropolis Reed Quintet’s love letter to a lost Black cultural hub in Detroit,” an interview on “Stateside” on Michigan Radio (University of Michigan NPR affiliate) with Akropolis Executive Director, Matt Landry, Detroit poet and historian, Marsha Music, and host, April Baer.

Marsha Music's new epic poem, "The Valley, the Bottom, and Hastings Street," composed for Akropolis' virtual soirée, was read by the poet live on the popular radio program, "Marketplace," with host Kai Ryssdal. Listen here.