Andy Akiho

Aestheticize Media

Andy Akiho is a contemporary composer whose interests run from steel pan to traditional classical music. Recent engagements include commissioned premieres by the New York Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble ACJW, a performance with the LA Philharmonic, and three shows at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC featuring original works. His rhythmic compositions continue to increase in recognition with recent awards including the 2014-15 Luciano Berio Rome Prize, a 2012 Chamber Music America Grant with Sybarite5, the 2011 Finale & ensemble eighth blackbird National Composition Competition Grand Prize, the 2012 Carlsbad Composer Competition Commission for Calder Quartet, the 2011 Woods Chandler Memorial Prize (Yale School of Music), a 2011 Music Alumni Award (YSM), the 2010 Horatio Parker Award (YSM), three ASCAP Plus Awards, an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award, and a 2008 Brian M. Israel Prize. His compositions have been featured on PBS’s “News Hour with Jim Lehrer” and by organizations such as Bang on a Can, American Composers Forum, and The Society for New Music.

A graduate of the University of South Carolina (BM, performance), the Manhattan School of Music (MM, contemporary performance), and the Yale School of Music (MM, composition), Akiho is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Princeton University. In addition to attending the 2013 International Heidelberger Frühling, the 2011 Aspen Summer Music Festival, and the 2008 Bang on a Can Summer Festival as a composition fellow, Akiho was the composer in residence for the 2013 Chamber Music Northwest Festival and the 2012 Silicon Valley Music Festival. In 2014, Akiho will attend the Intimacy of Creativity Festival at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and The American Academy in Rome as a composer fellow.

Tarnished Mirrors:
Deadlines are great sources for inspiration! I remember finding out about the ACO orchestral reading opportunities (Underwood and EarShot) this past autumn and thinking that I would love to participate; however, I did not have a standard orchestra piece. The only orchestral work that I ever wrote was a short steel pan concerto, which did not qualify since it was a concerto. I believe the deadline was in the first few days of December. So, after Thanksgiving rolled around and all the melatonic turkey wore off, I decided to write a short orchestral work because it has been a dream of mine to write for larger ensembles with infinite timbral pallets. After six straight days of non-stop composing and sleeplessness, I finished this short, brand-spanking new work titled Tarnished Mirrors. One day, I would love to expand this piece into a three-movement composition and come up with some “real” program notes after it has marinated, and after I have had some time to think about what the material is truly about when speaking beyond the musical vocabulary.