Andy Akiho Explained

Andy Akiho
Birth Date:2 February 1979
Birth Place:Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.
Education:University of South Carolina (B.M.), Yale University
Occupation:composer, musician
Years Active:1997–present

Andy Akiho (born February 7, 1979,[1] Columbia, South Carolina) is an American musician and composer of contemporary classical music. A virtuoso percussionist based in New York City, his primary performance instrument is steel pans.[2] He took interest in becoming a percussionist when his older sister introduced him to a drum set at the age of 9.[3] Akiho first tried his hand at the steel pan when he became an undergraduate at the University of South Carolina. He began taking several trips to Trinidad after college to learn and play music. From there, he started writing pieces of his own.[3]

Education

Akiho, who is of Japanese heritage, is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a B.M. in percussion performance, the Manhattan School of Music with a M.Mus. in contemporary performance, and the Yale School of Music with a second M.Mus. in composition.[4] He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in composition at Princeton University.[2] While he was an undergraduate, he was also a member of the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps of Fort Mill, South Carolina and then of The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps of Allentown, Pennsylvania.[5]

Career

Akiho has tried to learn everything he could with what was available to him at the time as a percussionist while at the University of South Carolina. He has played in a percussion ensemble as a classical percussionist, concert band, and in orchestras. Akiho had also joined a local West African percussion ensemble, Brazilian drumming ensembles, and steel bands.[6] He began to realize once he finished at South Carolina that he truly loved playing the pans the most and from there he traveled to Trinidad several times without knowing anyone or having any connections. He started by speaking to the locals telling them that he had really wanted to play the steel pan there. During his first visit, he had stayed in Trinidad for five weeks playing with a big band who called themselves the PCS Starlift Steel Orchestra which was led by Ray Holman. In the following year, he played with another steel orchestra called Phase II which was led by Len "Boogsie" Sharpe.[6]

Akiho's interest and confidence in going in the direction of music composition was influenced by him doing the Bang on a Can Summer Festivals in 2007 and 2008. Akiho has studied compositions with Julia Wolfe, David Lang (composer), and Michael Gordon (composer) and was greatly influenced by his teachers Christopher Theofanidis, Ezra Laderman, and Martin Bresnick at Yale School of Music.[6] Jacob Druckman’s “Come Round,” performed at the Manhattan School of Music played a huge role in influencing Akiho when he began composing.[6]

Akiho is involved in a stage production collaboration with The Industry's director, Yuval Sharon, who re-imagines Bertolt Brecht’s play Life of Galileo by taking part in composing the original music for. He found it challenging to collaborate with someone because he was used to doing abstract work to then working in a disciplined environment collaborating with someone who knew what they wanted. The project gave him the feeling that he was writing music for a movie, which in turn inspired him to want to do more of those kinds of collaborative work.[7]

Awards

Sources:[8] [9] [10]

Compositions

Akiho's early works were largely Caribbean-themed, folk and jazz based works for steel bands and steel pan players like himself. With increased experience and education, he has evolved into a composer of contemporary concert music.[12]

Sources:[13]

Discography

NO one To kNOW one (Innova Recordings #801), 2011 – Performer and composer[15]

The War Below, 2018 – Composer[16]

Seven Pillars, 2021 – Composer[17]

Featured on

Vicky Chow – AORTA (New Amsterdam Records) – Composer "Vick(i/y)"

Mariel Roberts – Nonextraneous Sounds (Innova Recordings #247) – Composer "Three Shades, Foreshadows"

RighteousGIRLS – Gathering Blue (Panoramic Recordings PAN03) – Composer "KARakurENAI"

Loadbang – Monodramas (Analog Arts AA1402) – Composer "Six Haikus"

Anthony de Mare – (ECM Records 2470-72) – Arranger "Into the Woods"

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra & Bright Sheng – Intimacy of Creativity – Five Year Retrospective (Naxos Records 8.573614-15) – Composer and performer "21 (Acoustic Version)"

Phillip O'Banion – Digital Divide (bcm&d Records 888295404686) – Composer "Stop Speaking"

Cover versions

An alumnus of two top Drum Corps International performing ensembles, Akiho is becoming a popular composer within the activity. In the summer of 2014, the Bluecoats performed to wALK Or ruN in wEst harlem. In 2016, it was performed by The Battalion while Golden Empire, Legends, and Oregon Crusaders played NO one To kNOW one. In 2017, the first corps he marched with, Carolina Crown, had NO one To kNOW one as a featured piece.[18]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ricochet, Concerto for Ping Pong, Violin, Percussion, and Orchestra. https://web.archive.org/web/20180605173714/https://nyphil.org/~/media/pdfs/program-notes/1718/Andy-Akiho-Ricochet.pdf. 2018-06-05. February 2018. New York Philharmonic.
  2. Web site: Artist Profile: Interview with Composer Andy Akiho . Joel Garten . Huffington Post . November 26, 2013 . June 18, 2017 .
  3. Web site: Music without Borders . Katherine Hobson . Princeton Alumni Weekly . January 16, 2013 . November 11, 2018 .
  4. Web site: Andy Akiho – Composer . ymusic.digication.com . June 18, 2017 .
  5. Potter, Dan (commentator/host) . June 9, 2017 . Spring training check-ins (Part III) . "Field Pass" podcast . June 18, 2017 . Drum Corps International .
  6. Web site: Meet Finale Composition Contest Finalist Andy Akiho . Scott Yoho . CSO Sounds & Stories . September 20, 2011 . November 11, 2018 .
  7. Web site: Andy Akiho – Inside the Instrument . Frank J. Oteri . NewMusic USA . June 1, 2018.
  8. Web site: Andy Akiho Music/Bio . Aki Rhythm Press. June 18, 2017 .
  9. Web site: Andy Akiho '11 MM wins ACO's Underwood Emerging Composer Commission . Yale University . September 10, 2014 . June 18, 2017 .
  10. Web site: Grammy Artist Page - Andy Akiho. Recording Academy. Nov 6, 2023.
  11. Web site: 2022 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music. May 20, 2022.
  12. Andy Akiho (composer) . ASCAP Audio Portrait: Andy Akiho . ASCAP Audio Portrait . June 18, 2017 . American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
  13. Web site: Andy Akiho Music/Music . Aki Rhythm Press. June 18, 2017 .
  14. News: Watch Ping-Pong Make Its New York Philharmonic Debut. 2018-09-10. en.
  15. Web site: Andy Akiho Music/Recordings . Aki Rhythm Press. June 18, 2017 .
  16. Web site: The War Below, by Andy Akiho. Andy Akiho. 2018-09-10.
  17. Web site: Seven Pillars. 2022-02-21.
  18. Web site: Composer Search Results Akiho, Andy . Maher & Associates, Inc./corpsreps.com . July 17, 2017 .

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