Celebrating their 16th season as “a sonically daring ensemble who specializes in performing new works with charisma and integrity” (BBC Music Magazine), the Akropolis Reed Quintet comprises five reed players and entrepreneurs unbounded by limits or categorization. Described by The Wire as a “collective voice driven by real excitement and a sense of adventure,” Akropolis has graced the Classical Billboard Charts with each of their last three albums, including #2 in April, 2024. Winner of seven national chamber music prizes including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal, Akropolis is known for performing “works that brilliantly exploit their unique instrumentation” (Gramophone). Composed of the same five members that brought about its founding in 2009, Akropolis delivers 120 concerts and educational events worldwide each year and has premiered and commissioned more than 150 works by living artists and composers.

Experimenters and creators at their core, the five artists of Akropolis are routinely lauded for their boldness and innovative spirit. As The Wire commented: “There’s nothing tentative in their approach, and that extends to their programming of multifariously challenging and imaginative new works.” Akropolis has collaborated with poets, a metal fabricator, dancers, small business owners, string quartets, pop vocalists, and others from all walks of life. The ensemble’s 6th album, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?, with two-time GRAMMY-nominated composer/pianist Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman, was released in April 2024 on Bright Shiny Things. 

The quintet is also known for powerful collaborations with youth and others within its Detroit community. Certified as a 510(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Akropolis is the recipient of the 2015 Fischoff Educator Award, as well as seven consecutive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. The ensemble runs a Detroit-based summer festival called Together We Sound and holds annual, school year-long music composition residencies at Cass Tech, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Detroit School of Arts high schools. Akropolis also produces the Akropolis Chamber Music Institute, a 10-day artist training and mentorship program in Petoskey, MI. 

Described as “pure gold” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Akropolis Reed Quintet performs worldwide and is represented exclusively by Ariel Artists.