Rackham Auditorium
Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?
Akropolis Reed Quintet
Pascal Le Boeuf, piano / composer
Christian Euman, drums
$12-20 student tickets available
Are We Dreaming the Same Dream? is an electrifying concert experience that blurs the lines between classical, jazz, and contemporary music.
Ann Arbor’s own Akropolis Reed Quintet — composed of clarinet, oboe, saxophone, bass clarinet, and bassoon — joins forces with Grammy-nominated composer and jazz pianist Pascal Le Boeuf and celebrated drummer Christian Euman. Le Boeuf’s composition is inspired by his musical “ancestors” — Geri Allen, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, and Leonard Bernstein — representing a variety of perspectives concerning the unity of the American experience. His composition asks: Are we really dreaming the same American dream, or is our consumer culture overshadowing our own sense of belonging?
Founded in 2009, the Akropolis Reed Quintet has won seven national chamber music prizes, including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal, and has premiered and commissioned over 150 works by living artists and composers. “Infallible musicality and huge vitality” (Fanfare Magazine)
Program
George Gershwin An American in Paris (arr. Raaf Hekkema)
Geri Allen RTG (arr. Le Boeuf)
Charles Mingus Self-Portrait in Three Colors (arr. Le Boeuf)
Pascal Le Boeuf Are We Dreaming the Same Dream
Thank You to Our Sponsors
PERMANENTLY ENDOWED SUPPORT
- Helmut F. and Candis J. Stern Endowment Fund
MEDIA PARTNERS
Celebrating their 15th year as “a sonically daring ensemble who specializes in performing new works with charisma and integrity” (BBC Music Magazine) and a “collective voice driven by real excitement and a sense of adventure” (The Wire), 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.
Winner of 7 national chamber music prizes including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal, Akropolis delivers 120 concerts and educational events each year and has premiered over 130 works. In November 2023 Akropolis will become the first reed quintet to grace the luminary University Musical Society (UMS) stage, and previously have appeared on Oneppo (Yale University), Chamber Music San Antonio, Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.), Summerwinds Münster (Germany), Flagler Museum (Palm Beach), and many more.
“There’s nothing tentative in [Akropolis’] approach, and that extends to their programming of multifariously challenging and imaginative new works” (The Wire). Akropolis’ 23-24 season will include world premieres by Derrick Skye and Stephanie Ann Boyd; performances of Are We Dreaming the Same Dream? with 2-time Grammy-nominated composer/pianist Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman; imaginative renditions of music by Ravel and Gershwin; and the release of their 6th full length commercial album on the Bright Shiny Things label.
Winner of the 2015 Fischoff Educator Award and a nonprofit organization which has received 7 consecutive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Akropolis runs a festival in Detroit called Together We Sound and an annual, yearlong residency at three public Detroit high schools.
The “pure gold” (San Francisco Chronicle) Akropolis Reed Quintet performs worldwide and is represented exclusively by Ariel Artists.
Described as “sleek, new” and “hyper-fluent” by The New York Times, Pascal Le Boeuf is a GRAMMY-nominated composer, jazz pianist, and electronic artist whose works range from modern improvised music to hybridizing notation-based chamber music with production-based technology.