Guest Artists
Renowned performers and teaching artists, working side by side with Parlando students.
Photo by Jason Walker
Upcoming masterclass
Akropolis Reed Quintet
GRAMMY® Award-winning reed quintet and our first-ever instrumental ensemble guest.
Parlando's wind, reed, and chamber groups will perform for the quintet and receive real-time coaching from these professionals.
The masterclass is open to everyone. Whether you play an instrument or not, masterclasses are enthralling to watch, and audiences often walk away with life lessons as well as musical ones.
About the Akropolis Reed Quintet
Founded in 2009 at the University of Michigan. Represented by Ariel Artists.
Founded in 2009, the GRAMMY® Award-winning Akropolis Reed Quintet is “a sonically daring ensemble who specializes in performing new works with charisma and integrity” (BBC Music Magazine). Comprising five reed players and entrepreneurs unbounded by limits or categorization, Akropolis has graced the Classical Billboard Charts with each of their last three albums, including #2 in April 2024, and has won seven national chamber music prizes including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal. Having premiered and commissioned more than 200 works by living artists and composers, they are pioneers and champions of a new genre of classical music—the reed quintet.
Composed of the same five members that brought about its founding at the University of Michigan, they are the first ensemble to receive the University's Paul M. Boylan Alumni Award. Akropolis delivers 120 concerts and educational events worldwide each year at luminary series including Tanglewood, Bravo! Vail, University Musical Society, Chamber Music Northwest, and more. Akropolis became the first ever GRAMMY® winning reed quintet with their 2024 album, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?, in collaboration with Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman, taking home Best Instrumental Composition for the track “Strands” at the 67th Grammy Awards held in February 2025.
Utilizing their “sheer musical imagination” (Gramophone), the quintet is also known for powerful collaborations with youth and others within its Southeast Michigan community. Certified as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Akropolis runs a Detroit-based summer festival called Together We Sound, holds annual, school year-long music composition residencies at Cass Tech, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Detroit School of Arts high schools, and produces a week-long Chamber Music Institute focused on artist training and mentorship in partnership with Interlochen Center for the Arts.
Described as “pure gold” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Akropolis Reed Quintet performs worldwide and is represented exclusively by Ariel Artists.
The guest artist program
Learning from the best in the field
Our Guest Artist program brings renowned performers and teaching artists to Boulder to work with Parlando students of all ages and abilities, through masterclasses, workshops, and performances.
A glimpse of what's possible
Students see firsthand the futures a life in the arts can hold.
Learning from masters
Direct coaching and lasting connections with artists at the top of their field.
Real experience
Performing for a professional builds skills, confidence, and a stronger resume.
Memories that last
The kind of musical moments students carry with them long after the day itself.
Past guest artists
Pianists, singers, songwriters, and actors who have shared their craft with our students and community.
Josh Andrés Rivera
Stage and screen actor and Fairview High School alum, known for West Side Story, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and the national tour of Hamilton. Led an acting workshop and an acting-through-song masterclass.
Kessa Mefford
Award-winning pianist celebrated for her performances of Ravel, including her Carnegie Hall debut presenting his complete art songs. Gave a public masterclass for Parlando students.
Neyla Pekarek
Former cellist and vocalist of The Lumineers and creator of the musical Rattlesnake Kate. Coached Parlando's high school songwriters on their original songs.
Nnenna Ogwo
Pianist and teaching artist dedicated to the music of underrepresented composers. Gave a student masterclass, a faculty workshop, and a celebration concert with our students and faculty.
James Hayden Rodriguez
Broadway actor who originated the role of Luke Castellan in The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical. Worked with the cast of Parlando's production of The Lightning Thief and led a public masterclass for our voice and theater students.