About the Artists
Akropolis Reed Quintet
Celebrating their 15th year, 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 performs “works that brilliantly exploit their unique instrumentation” (Gramophone). Remaining the same 5 members since their founding in 2009, Akropolis delivers 120 concerts and educational events worldwide each year and has premiered and commissioned over 130 works by living artists and composers.
Their 23-24 15th anniversary season includes their UMS debut; premieres of the music of Derrick Skye and Stephanie Ann Boyd; imaginative renditions of music by Ravel and Stravinsky; and touring their 6th album, Are We Dreaming The Same Dream? with Grammy-nominated pianist and composer Pascal Le Beouf.
Pascal Le Boeuf
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.
Recent compositions include Triple Concerto for violin, percussion duo and orchestra featuring Barbora Kolářová and Arx Duo; Imprints with Alarm Will Sound; I Am Not A Number commissioned by New World Symphony; and Out of the Gate commissioned and premiered by Nu Deco Ensemble.
Recent commercial recordings and videos include collaborations with Tasha Warren & Dave Eggar, Friction Quartet, Akropolis Reed Quintet, Christian Euman, JACK Quartet, Hub New Music, Shattered Glass, Todd Reynolds, Sara Caswell, Jessica Meyer, Nick Photinos, Four/Ten Media, Bec Plexus featuring Ian Chang (of Son Lux), Dayna Stephens, Allan Harris, Linda Oh, Justin Brown, and the Le Boeuf Brothers Quintet (co-led by Remy Le Boeuf) praised by the New Yorker for “clearing their own path, mixing the solid swing of the jazz tradition with hip-hop, indie rock, and the complex techniques of classical modernism.”
As a keyboardist, Pascal has played as support for D’Angelo’s Black Messiah tour and Clean Bandit’s Rather Be tour with Australian pop artist Meg Mac. He actively performs with Le Boeuf Brothers, saxophonist Jeff Coffin, jazz vocalist Allan Harris, and his piano trio “Pascal’s Triangle.”
Pascal’s most recent awards include a 2023 Grammy nomination for “Best Instrumental Composition,” a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2020 Copland House Residency Award, and various Independent Music Awards in “Jazz,” “Eclectic,” “Electronica,” and “Music Video” categories. Pascal has received commissions and grants from NEA, New World Symphony, Nu Deco Ensemble, the Lake George Music Festival, Lincoln Center Stage, Chamber Music America, New Music USA, and ASCAP. He composed music for the 2008 Emmy award-winning movie King Lines, and won first place in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition.
Pascal is currently an assistant professor of the practice of music and technology at the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, and a “Harold W. Dodds Honorific Fellow” and Ph.D. candidate in music composition at Princeton University.
Christian Euman
Christian Euman’s unique style, creative approach to performance and improvisation, and infectious energy has garnered him international attention and appreciation. His musicianship was shaped during his tenure as a student at Western Michigan University, as well as at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA (now known as the Herbie Hancock Institute), headed by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. Christian has since performed, recorded, and/or toured worldwide such luminaries as Herbie Hancock, Kurt Elling, Billy Childs, säje, Jacob Collier, Rufus Wainwright, Larry Goldings, and many others. Christian has also contributed his distinct voice to award-winning films, in the scores of Green Book, Malignant, Ford v. Ferrari, and more. Christian is currently based in Los Angeles, CA, and is the touring drummer in Jacob Collier’s Djesse World Tour. He is a proud endorser of Canopus Drums, Aquarian Drumheads, Vic Firth Sticks, and Zildjian Cymbals. He released his debut album, Allemong, in summer of 2020.
