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The 2022 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music

Finalist: Seven Pillars, by Andy Akiho

Premiered on December 3, 2021 by Sandbox Percussion at Emerald City Music in Seattle, Wash., an ambitious extension of traditional American percussion writing that, in 11 movements, combines sensuous timbres, an agile command of rhythm, and a wide span of international influences.

Nominated Work

Seven Pillars

By

Andy Akiho

"Pillar IV" from the album iteration of the work.

Seven Pillars, commissioned by and dedicated to Sandbox Percussion, is an 80-minute, 11-movement suite for percussion comprising seven quartets surrounding four solos that reflect the personality of each performer. The macro-structure is made up of two simultaneous processes - an additive process where each movement introduces a new instrument, and a symmetrical/palindromic structure on either side of the central movement.

The journey of Seven Pillars began eight years ago in 2013 and culminated in a world premiere of the entire suite by Sandbox Percussion at Emerald City Music in Seattle, Washington, on December 3, 2021.

The inspirations for this work are deeply personal, and it was written for the performers more than the instruments. I have always been influenced by Duke Ellington who created pieces for the specific musicians, including Cat Anderson and Juan Tizol, in his orchestras. This piece does not have a concrete narrative, although I have a personal storyline that fits my life journey, and I encourage the listener to experience the music in their own adventure.

The seven quartets (Pillars I - VII) are extroverted and are inspired by architecture, where each mirrored movement, Pillars I & VII, Pillars II & VI, and Pillars III & V, formerly share musically structural, temporal, scalar, and motivic elements.

With the freeform and intuitive solos, I looked inward to reflect my personality along with the inspiring musical identities of the members of Sandbox: Jonny Allen, begins with the first melodic material and kaleidoscopic timbres in "Amethyst"; Terry Sweeney is "Spiel"; Ian Rosenbaum, who embodies the lyricism and harmonic landscapes in "Marimba" and Victor Caccese who the rhythmic intensity and extremely dance-like virtuosity in "carTogRAPh”. Over the years, they have become like family to me, and I wanted to write a piece accompanying this journey along with my growth as a composer, constantly searching for an innovative voice.

-- from the entry questionnaire

Seven Pillars, a trailblazing work composed by Andy Akiho and performed by Sandbox Percussion, will redefine how one listens to and experiences music. Each track on this boldly genre-defying album has a corresponding video that stitch together a unique audio-visual experience.

-- from the album's Bandcamp page

Biography

Described as “trailblazing” (LA Times) and “an imaginative composer” (NY Times), Andy Akiho is a GRAMMY® nominated composer and performer of new music.

Recent engagements include commissioned premieres by the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, China Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, Oregon Symphony with Soloist Colin Currie, American Composers Orchestra, Music@Menlo, Sandbox Percussion, Chamber Music Northwest, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, LA Dance Project, and experimental opera company The Industry.

Akiho has been recognized with many prestigious awards and organizations including the Rome Prize, Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize, Harvard University Fromm Commission, Barlow Endowment, New Music USA, and Chamber Music America. Additionally, his compositions have been featured on PBS’s “News Hour with Jim Lehrer” and by organizations such as Bang on a Can, American Composers Forum, The Intimacy of Creativity in Hong Kong, and the Heidelberg Festival. His latest composition, Seven Pillars, performed by Sandbox Percussion, was nominated for 2 GRAMMY® Awards.

Akiho is also an active steel pannist and performs his compositions with various ensembles worldwide. He has performed his works with the Charlotte Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, Nu Decco Ensemble, LA Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series, the Berlin Philharmonic’s Scharoun Ensemble, the International Drum Festival in Taiwan, and has had four concerts featuring his compositions at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Akiho’s recordings No One To Know One (innova Recordings) and The War Below (National Sawdust Tracks) features brilliantly crafted compositions that pose intricate rhythms and exotic timbres inspired by his primary instrument, the steel pan.

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

Winners

Prize Winner in Music in 2022:

Raven Chacon

Premiered on November 21, 2021 in Milwaukee, Wis., a mesmerizing, original work for organ and ensemble that evokes the weight of history in a church setting, a concentrated and powerful musical expression with a haunting visceral impact. Music

Finalists

Nominated as finalists in Music in 2022:

Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti

Premiered on August 6, 2021 at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York, N.Y., a vibrant composition, inspired by works in The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, that distinctly combines experimental string textures and episodes of melting lyricism.

The Jury

Alex Ross(Chair)

Music Critic, The New Yorker

John Luther Adams*

Composer, New Mexico

Du Yun*

Composer, New York City

Tania León*

Composer, Conductor and Educator, Nyack, N.Y.

Patrice Rushen

Jazz Pianist, Composer and Educator, Los Angeles, Calif.

Winners in Music

2021

Tania León

Premiered at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City on February 13, 2020, a musical journey full of surprise, with powerful brass and rhythmic motifs that incorporate Black music traditions from the US and the Caribbean into a Western orchestral fabric.
2020

Anthony Davis

Premiered on June 15, 2019 at the Long Beach Opera, a courageous operatic work, marked by powerful vocal writing and sensitive orchestration, that skillfully transforms a notorious example of contemporary injustice into something empathetic and hopeful. Libretto by Richard Wesley.
2019

Ellen Reid

A bold new operatic work that uses sophisticated vocal writing and striking instrumental timbres to confront difficult subject matter: the effects of sexual and emotional abuse. Libretto by Roxie Perkins. Prism was commissioned and produced by Beth Morrison Projects in association with Trinity Wall Street, presented in a rolling world premiere with LA Opera and the PROTOTYPE Festival.
2018

Kendrick Lamar

Recording released on April 14, 2017, a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.

See All Music

2022 Prize Winners

Feature Writing

Jennifer Senior of The Atlantic

For an unflinching portrait of a family’s reckoning with loss in the 20 years since 9/11, masterfully braiding the author's personal connection to the story with sensitive reporting that reveals the long reach of grief.
See All 2022 Winners