PRAx and the School of Visual, Performing and Design Arts Present: Imani Winds x Andy Akiho: BeLoud, BeLoved, BeLonging
BeLoud, BeLoved, BeLonging is the result of an incredible collaboration between this year’s Patricia Valian Reser Artist-in-Residence, composer and percussionist Andy Akiho, and the Grammy-winning Imani Winds, who are celebrating 25 years of dynamic playing and adventurous programming. Akiho’s powerful work, commissioned by Imani Winds, was inspired by the sounds heard at a Brooklyn detention center. Akiho workshopped the piece with incarcerated young men at Rikers Island.
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About Andy Akiho, 25-26 Patricia Valian Reser Artist-in-Residence
Akiho is a “trailblazing” (Los Angeles Times) Pulitzer Prize finalist and seven-time GRAMMY-nominated composer whose bold works unravel intricate and unexpected patterns while challenging the preconceived boundaries of classical music.
A virtuosic steel pannist, Akiho has a deeply physical relationship with composition. Having spent most of his 20s playing steel pan by ear in Trinidad and New York City, Akiho only began writing music at age 28. Since then, he has been commissioned – to take just a few examples – by the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, and the China Philharmonic. He is the recipient of the Rome Prize and many other awards.