Akropolis Reed Quintet
- Date: 3 November 2024
- Time: 16:00
- Venue: Methodist Church
- Location: Ridgecrest, CA
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Celebrating their 15th year as “a sonically daring ensemble who specializes in performing new works with charisma and integrity” (BBC Music Magazine), Akropolis has “taken the chamber music world by storm” (Fanfare). As the first reed quintet to twice grace the Billboard Charts (2021, 2022), the untamed band of 5 reed players and entrepreneurs are united by a shared passion: to make music that sparks joy and wonder.
Concert Program
- • Homage to Paradise Valley - Jeff Scott • The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - Mendelssohn • These few specks of time - Oswald Huynh • Toccata from Le Tombeau de Couperin arr. Raaf Hekkema - Maurice Ravel
Our Performers
Tim Gocklin, Oboe
Tim is a two-time winner of the Yale School of Music’s Chamber Music Competition. In 2013, he performed works by Hindemith in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall as part of the Yale in New York series. He has performed at Chamber Music Northwest with David Shifrin and oboist Allan Vogel in a program of Dvorak’s Wind Serenade, Op. 44 and Mozart’s Gran Partita in B-flat, KV 361. He has appeared at the Caramoor Festival with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Cape Cod Music Festival, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival under the direction of Peter Oundjian, and held fellowships at the Norfolk and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals.
Kari Landry, Clarinet
Kari Landry is a Backun Artist and clarinetist of the Akropolis Reed Quintet. Since 2016, Kari has been an intermediate lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance where she teaches music entrepreneurship courses. Kari received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in clarinet performance from the University of Michigan, studying with Cleveland Orchestra clarinetist Dan Gilbert. Committed to increasing arts access within communities, Kari earned an additional Masters Degree in Arts Administration from Eastern Michigan University.
Matt Landry, Saxophone
Matt Landry is the Akropolis Reed Quintet’s saxophonist. He is one of the most active classical saxophonists in the world today. He has twice appeared on the Classical Billboard Charts and is one of a handful of classical saxophonists to ever perform on the University Musical Society series. He has won 7 national chamber music prizes including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal. He was an adjudicator for the 2019 Chamber Music Yellow Springs National Chamber Music Competition and the 2023 NOLA Chamber Fest competition.
Andrew Koeppe, Bass Clarinet
The Akropolis Reed Quintet’s bass clarinetist and an Ann Arbor, MI native, Andrew Koeppe majored in clarinet at the University of Michigan and studied with Chad Burrow, Deborah Chodacki, and Monica Kaenzig. Andrew can be heard on two University of Michigan Symphony Band albums, including interactions with acclaimed soloists Nancy Ambrose King and Adam Unsworth, as well as the premiere of William Bolcom’s Symphony for Band. He was the featured clarinet soloist in Bolcom’s band orchestration of “Graceful Ghost Rag” on the University of Michigan Symphony Band CD release, Artifacts. He has also performed with the Final Fantasy Symphony in Ann Arbor and with New Music Detroit, performing Annie Gosfield’s Detroit Industry at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Ryan Reynolds, Bassoon
Dr. Ryan Reynolds is the bassoonist of the Akropolis Reed Quintet, and Lecturer of Bassoon at Eastern Michigan University. An award-winning chamber musician, Dr. Reynolds has won prizes at six national chamber music competitions, including the Gold Medal at the 2014 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He tours internationally as a member of Akropolis and has released five studio albums with the ensemble. The latest of these albums, Hymns for Private Use, was released in October 2022 on Bright Shiny Things, and debuted at #8 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart. In 2018, his collaboration with legendary clarinetist David Shifrin on the studio recording of a new chamber music version of Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto was released on Delos Records and nominated for an International Classical Music Award.