Andy Akiho

Andy Akiho

Luciano Berio Rome Prize
September 8, 2014–July 31, 2015
Profession
Composer, New York
PhD Candidate in Music Composition, Princeton University
Project title
New Works for Orchestra
Project description

While at the American Academy, I will be working primarily on three large orchestral works and a modern ballet. I plan to begin my compositional journey in Rome by finishing a percussion quartet for the Time Travelers. I will follow this by finishing a ballet for choreographer Benjamin Millepied, founder of LA Dance Project and director of Paris Opera Ballet, to be premiered in 2015. Beginning in the fall, I will compose a steel pan concerto, which will be premiered by steel pan virtuoso Liam Teague and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in May 2015. Additionally, I will write a triple-concerto for the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, featuring Olympic ping-pong players, the percussionist David Cossin, and the violinist Elizabeth Zelster, to be premiered in Shanghai in July 2015. I will also be writing my first nonconcerto orchestral work for the American Composers Orchestra, to be premiered in New York during the 2015–16 season.

In addition to the orchestral works, I will begin outlining two chamber pieces that will be premiered in late 2015: a piano quintet for the Friction String Quartet and the pianist Jenny Q. Chai; and a multidisciplinary chamber work in collaboration with the percussionist Scott Christian and the Architecture Department at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.