Seven-time GRAMMY®-nominated composer’s work highlight of chamber series finale
March 27, 2025
In celebration of the School of Music’s Centennial, this year’s Freeman Sundays @3 concerts have featured specific areas of the School of Music and include the premiere of a new work by an accomplished USC composition alum.
Its final concert features a premiere of Pulitzer- and Grammy-nominated and USC School of Music alumus Andy Akiho’s Copper Canvas. 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 nominated for a GRAMMY® in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Andy Akiho, USC School of Music Alumnus (’01)
- Composed for 13 players — winds, strings, piano and percussion — Copper Canvas will be performed by USC faculty and students conducted by Cormac Cannon.
- Also on the program is Prokofiev’s Quintet in G minor, Op. 39 (1924) for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, and double bass featuring Music faculty Hassan Anderson, Joseph Eller, Ari Streisfeld, Daniel Sweaney, and Craig Butterfield.
- The closing set features USC jazz faculty, featuring Matt White (trumpet), Colleen Clark (drums), Lauren Meccia (sax), Craig Butterfield (bass) and Steve Briody (guitar), playing tunes by White and Butterfield.
- This special concert will be hosted by USC School of Music alum Bradley Fuller, the host of SC Public Radio’s Sonatas and Soundscapes.
What they’re saying: “For faculty, it’s a great opportunity to collaborate with colleagues who we may not have a chance to perform with otherwise,” says bassoon professor Mike Harley, the current chair of the faculty committee that organizes Freeman Sunday concerts. “We have the opportunity to choose pieces that we are particularly interested in playing and other faculty that we want to collaborate with.”
The concert is at 3 p.m. on April 6 in the USC School of Music Recital Hall.
