Andy Akiho: Beneath Lighted Coffers & Concerto for Steel Pans & Orchestra Oregon Symphony & David Danzmayr

• Andy Akiho (b. 1979): Beneath Lighted Coffers:
• 1 Akiho: Beneath Lighted Coffers: I. Portic 04:55
• 2 Akiho: Beneath Lighted Coffers: II. Twenty-Eight 06:58
• 3 Akiho: Beneath Lighted Coffers: III. Oculus 08:41
• 4 Akiho: Beneath Lighted Coffers: IV. Corelli 02:30
• 5 Akiho: Beneath Lighted Coffers: V. Permanence 10:06
• Concerto for Steel Pans & Orchestra:
• 6 Akiho: Concerto for Steel Pans & Orchestra 12:26
• Total Runtime 45:36

Info for Andy Akiho: Beneath Lighted Coffers & Concerto for Steel Pans & Orchestra

Reference Recordings® proudly presents our first collaboration with the Oregon Symphony, in a spectacular live recording featuring composer and steel pannist Andy Akiho. His works on this album are Beneath Lighted Coffers, recorded on April 29, 30 & May 1, 2023, and Concerto for Steel Pans & Orchestra, recorded on October 5, 6 & 7, 2024. This album was engineered by Mark Donahue and produced by Blanton Alspaugh, both multi-GRAMMY® winners from Soundmirror, Inc.

Andy Akiho, born in 1979 in Columbia, South Carolina, is a “trailblazing”(Los Angeles Times) Pulitzer Prize finalist and seven-time GRAMMY®-nominated composer whose bold works unravel intricate and unexpected patterns while surpassing preconceived boundaries of classical music. Called “increasingly in-demand” by The New York Times, Akiho has earned international acclaim for his large-scale works that emphasize the natural theatricality of live performance. He is the only composer to be nominated for a GRAMMY® in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

The multi- GRAMMY® Award nominated Oregon Symphony, led by Jean Vollum Music Director David Danzmayr, serves hundreds of thousands of people annually through concerts, education initiatives, and community programs. With a 129-year legacy, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. Its home venue is the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland’s Cultural District, where this album was recorded.

Oregon Symphony
David Danzmayr, conductor

Andy Akiho
is a “trailblazing” (Los Angeles Times) Pulitzer Prize finalist and seven-time GRAMMY®-nominated composer whose bold works unravel intricate and unexpected patterns while surpassing preconceived boundaries of classical music. Called "increasingly in-demand” by The New York Times, Akiho has earned international acclaim for his large-scale works that emphasize the natural theatricality of live performance. He is the only composer to be nominated for a GRAMMY® in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Recent highlights include the world premieres of several major works, most notably Nisei — a sweeping new concerto for cellist Jeffrey Zeigler — which headlined this year’s Sun Valley Music Festival. Another standout: Sculptures, a groundbreaking, triple GRAMMY®-nominated work for Omaha Symphony honoring renowned visual artist Jun Kaneko. Finally, BeLonging, a powerful new collaboration with Imani Winds with strong political undertones, also made highly acclaimed live and recorded debuts, receiving two GRAMMY® nominations. Equally at home writing chamber music and symphonies, Akiho is the Oregon Symphony’s 2024-25 composer-in-residence.

Other recent engagements include commissioned premieres by the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, China Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Music@Menlo, The Industry, and a sold-out run of “Seven Pillars” at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, choreographed by Benjamin Millepied and performed by Sandbox Percussion and LA Dance Project.

Akiho has been recognized via many prestigious awards and organizations including the Rome Prize, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize, Harvard University Fromm Commission, Barlow Endowment, New Music USA, and Chamber Music America. His compositions have been featured by organizations such as Bang on a Can, American Composers Forum, The Intimacy of Creativity in Hong Kong, and the Heidelberg Festival.

An active steel pannist, Akiho has performed his works with Imani Winds, the LA Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series, the Berlin Philharmonic’s Scharoun Ensemble, the International Drum Festival in Taiwan, and more. Akiho’s recordings No One To Know One, The War Below, Seven Pillars, Oculus, Sculptures, and BeLonging feature brilliantly crafted compositions inspired by his primary instrument, the steel pan.

As a pannist, Akiho has a deeply physical relationship with playing, which undoubtedly informs his compositions. His style is further shaped by his nontraditional path as a composer: having spent most of his 20s playing steel pan by ear in Trinidad and New York City, Akiho only began writing music at age 28. Still, these social and musical roots remain foundational. Akiho frequently composes into the late hours at coffee shops, nightclubs, and restaurants, taking breaks to get to know those around him. Similarly, Akiho develops relationships with his collaborators, as he writes for people, not instruments.

Akiho was born in 1979 in Columbia, SC, and is currently based in Portland, OR and New York City.

Booklet for Andy Akiho: Beneath Lighted Coffers & Concerto for Steel Pans & Orchestra