The Akropolis Reed Quintet was founded in 2009 at the University of Michigan and is the first ever ensemble of its makeup to win a Fischoff Gold Medal (2014) as well as Grand Prize at the Plowman and MTNA national competitions. Hailed by Fanfare Magazine for its "imagination, infallible musicality, and huge vitality", akropolis has performed from Juneau to Abu Dhabi and has showcased at five national conferences. Winner of the 2015 Fischoff Educator Award, Akropolis conducts extensive educational residencies and impacts thousands of children every year. A maverick of new wind music, Akropolis has commissioned over 25 reed quintet works and recorded three albums, including its 2017 release, The Space Between Us, which the San Francisco Chronicle calls, "pure gold". Akropolis has received grants from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs & Chamber Music America for its community programming in Detroit, MI. + Full Biography
"I am in awe of your genius in this educational arena and excited for all the young lives that you will impact and change because you are first and foremost extraordinary artists who are bringing that excellence and meticulous preparation and execution to the educational arena."
Kathy Soroka, Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts Education Coordinator and Founder of MUSIC IN ACTION: A Community & Educational ArtReach Program at the Manhattan School of Music, March 2017
Priased for their "powerful intimacy, nobody struts like the Akropolis Reed Quintet. Even when they stay in one place, they shake and shimmy and groove with the music. When they play, the music has this brisk, bouncy, breezy, easy strolling quality. And it’s not just concerts. The Akropolis members are highly focused on their educational outreach endeavors, making clinics and workshops as much a part of their touring priorities as their more conventional concerts."
Mathew Andrews, Oregon Arts Watch, October 21, 2016
"The Akropolis concert was a great success. Their musicianship and rapport with the audience were wonderful. I received several emails to this effect from audience members. Finally, the outreach program at our Middle School was also well received. The entire student body was there (a first) and it seemed like about a million kids. The Quintet handled it all with aplomb and really engaged the audience throughout the presentation."
George Cady, Director, Friends of Music, Brookings, OR, March 2017
"The group, who played from memory while subtly changing relative positions in response to the interplay of the parts, elevated precision to passion with their brilliantly tight performance."
Jeff Winslow, Oregon ArtsWatch, July 30, 2015
"Their ensemble was tight and their sound alluring—their playing off each other's timbres as they stood dispersed among the audience at the beginning of "Sorrow and Celebration" was an especially nice touch."
James McQuillen, OregonianLive.com, July 23, 2015
Translated - "The audience was thrilled by the rising stars' appearance and rewarded the ensemble with long-lasting and thunderous applauses. In gratitude, the quintet played two encores." Full article text.
Simon Beckmann
Westfälische Nachrichten Newspaper, Germany
August 25, 2015
"The album is filled from stem to stern with tight writing by young composers, and the spectacular playing engages both intellect and emotion throughout."
Andrew Sigler, New Music Box, June, 2014
"All of the music is remarkable for the sheer joy that it elicits from the exceptional ARQ musicians. The quintet plays with imagination, infallible musicality, and huge vitality. I can’t imagine why anyone even remotely interested in approachable contemporary chamber music would not snap up this release immediately."
Ron Grames, Fanfare Magazine, May, 2014
"Fischoff’s 2015 Educator Award winner, the Akropolis Reed Quintet, performed brilliantly throughout the Northern Indiana community in a series of educational outreach programs. We are grateful to each member for their professionalism shown at each of the ten performances. More than 2,600 children, youth and adults were inspired by their musical performances and unbridled enthusiasm for chamber music."
Ann Divine, Executive Director, Fischoff National Chamber Music Association