Steel panist Andy Akiho at
the Yale School of Music
with the
Yale
Philharmonia
New Haven,
Connecticut
- With the
world
watching
literally
from every
corner of
the globe
through a
live
streaming
internet
broadcast,
musician and
composer Andy Akiho
brought the
steelpan
instrument
front and
center to
the
collective
consciousness
of
the
prestigious
Yale School
of Music.
In a concert
featuring
new music
for
orchestra
by Yale
composers,
Andy Akiho’s
Concerto
for Steel
Pans,
with Akiho
as soloist
was
performed at
Morse Recital Hall with the
Yale Philharmonia,
and Shinik Hahm
as
conductor.
Akiho
challenges
the accepted
boundaries
and
expectations
for the
steelpan
instrument
both in
terms of
music for
the
instrument
and accepted
performance
techniques.
The piece
simultaneously
explored and
presented
the sonic
textures
from the
steelpan
instrument
within the
musical
confines of
the
traditional
orchestra
with great
success. His
tactful use
of dynamics
to elicit
emotional
responses is
excellent.
The exquisite storytelling
in Akiho’s composition took the audience through
the full
gamut for
human
emotions -
melancholy,
joy,
tension,
shock,
criticism, surprise, laughter,
suspense,
fear and
tranquility
among others.
All were there weaved
into this
matched
musical
bouquet of
controlled
dissonance
and rhythmic
counter-play;
flirting at
times with
chaos and
the
perceived
edge, to only
in an
instant grab
the listener
back into
the safety
and calm of
a melodic
conversation
and harmonic
stability, resolving
treasured
musical
sanity.
Akiho
displays
depth, growth,
maturity and
wisdom in
allowing
enough space
for the
listener to
put his own
stamp and
interpretation
on the
piece.
Furthermore,
Andy Akiho
has mastered
the ability
to be
intellectual
and
musically
stimulating,
without
being so
cerebral
that you
lose soul,
spirit and
the ability
to connect
with the
human
audience
that
naturally
wants to
relate to
the story of
the
composer, in
this case
Andy Akiho,
though
through a
new “voice.”
Andy
Akiho
performs
with the
Yale
Philharmonia.
His
composition
is
‘Concerto
for
Steel
Pans &
Orchestra’
Akiho’s call
and response
is indeed a quite
distinctive
trait as his
technique
utilizes the
percussive nature and
unique tonal
qualities of
the steelpan
instrument
(rim, skirt
and note) - to
become
completely
involved in
the voice of
the steelpan. And again
all the
while not
allowing the
listener to
simply
finish the
lines to
each passage
by simply
calling on old, past
experiences,
thereby
keeping it -
the
story,
new and
fresh, alive
and
exciting.
When Steel
Talks has
been
actively
following
the career
of musician
Andy Akio
for a while.
Talented,
unassuming
and humble,
Andy continues
to stretch
the
boundaries
for which
the steelpan can
be
conceptualized,
utilized and
realized. What
once was great
promise has
now become a
source of
terrific works
of music.
The journey
of the steelpan
instrument
continues
and Andy
Akiho
has indeed
entered a
critical
entree in
the ship’s
log tonight.
The
Yale
Philharmonia
Orchestra
during
the
New
Music
for
Orchestra
concert
The evening
was filled
with other
thought-provoking
performances
that pushed
the envelope
of the so-called musical
norm.
Additional
‘New music for orchestra’
by Yale
composers
were
educator Martin Bresnick’s
Pan Penseroso,
a flute
concerto
with soloists
Ransom
Wilson and
Dariya
Nikolenko; Reena Esmail’s
Aria, with Hindustani vocalist Meena Shivaram and conductor Yang Jiao; Adrian Knight’s
Comblé, conducted by Adrian Slywotzky and Omar Surillo’s
Partner in Crime.
Click
here
for more on
Andy Akiho.
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