The Fontana Chamber Arts season launches this Sunday with a performance by the Grammy-winning Akropolis Reed Quintet, bringing audiences a chance to experience what executive director Brad Wong calls "a remarkable sonority" in chamber music.
The reed quintet represents a relatively new instrumentation in classical music, according to clarinetist Kari Landry. "The reed quintet itself is 40 years old. So in the scheme and history of classical music, you know, that's very, very young and modern," she explains. Wong, who is also the former director at Western Michigan University's School of Music, notes this creates unique advantages: "Not only do these instruments blend well together, it sort of puts everybody on a more equal technical level."
The instrumentation originated with Amsterdam's Calefax Reed Quintet 40 years ago. As Wong explains, "they sort of removed the outliers from that instrumentation, which is the flute and the horn, leaving them with a core of three reed instruments and adding a bass clarinet and saxophone."
Akropolis formed at the University of Michigan 16 years ago with the same five original members. The group has commissioned over 200 works and recently won a Grammy for their album "Are We Dreaming the Same Dream."
Landry describes the ensemble's versatility: "The reed quintet really is this special sound within chamber music because it combines these five reed instruments together... we really have this expansive color palette and expansive set of influences."
Sunday's program will showcase this range, opening with a Jean-Philippe Rameau baroque arrangement and closing with Gershwin's "An American in Paris." Between these bookends, audiences will hear contemporary commissioned works including pieces by Derek Skye and Ryan Lindveit.
The quintet maintains strong Michigan connections through educational outreach. They run a summer chamber music institute in Petoskey and have worked with Detroit high school students for a decade, helping over 70 students compose pieces for the ensemble.
"There are hundreds of reed quintets now in the US alone," Landry notes, reflecting the genre's growing popularity since Akropolis helped establish it in America.
The concert takes place Sunday, September 21st at 7:30 p.m. in Dalton Center Recital Hall. Tickets are available at FontanaMusic.org and at the door.
This interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
