Music Academy of the West Percussionfest artists, Granada Theatre, July 3, 2025. | Photo: Andrew Yew 
Music Academy of the West Percussionfest, Granada Theatre, July 3, 2025. | Photo: Andrew Yew 
Music Academy of the West Fellows play movements from Andy Akiho’s ‘Sculptures,’ on the “Untitled Head.” Granada Theatre, July 3, 2025. | Photo: Andrew Yew 
Pre-show talk with Stewart Copeland, left, and Michael Werner. Music Academy of the West Percussionfest, Granada Theatre, July 3, 2025. | Photo: Andrew Yew 
Music Academy of the West Percussionfest, Granada Theatre, July 3, 2025. | Photo: Andrew Yew 
Stewart Copeland during pre-show talk for Music Academy of the West Percussionfest, Granada Theatre, July 3, 2025. | Photo: Andrew Yew 
Music Academy of the West Percussionfest, Granada Theatre, July 3, 2025. | Photo: Andrew Yew 
Music Academy of the West Percussionfest, Granada Theatre, July 3, 2025. | Photo: Andrew Yew 
Music Academy of the West Percussionfest, Granada Theatre, July 3, 2025. | Photo: Andrew Yew
After visiting the glorious, golden, gleaming, 13-foot-tall, 2,000-pound bronze head sculpture instrument by Jun Kaneko while it graced the Music Academy of the West’s campus for several weeks, I wasn’t sure what to expect when it finally made its way to The Granada Theatre stage for Percussionfest on July 3. Needless to say, the whole program was pretty mind-boggling.
A veritable buffet of percussion entertainment, the program itself featured movements from Grammy-nominated composer Andy Akiho’s shimmering Sculptures, which were fascinating. The versatility of that beautiful art object / instrument (with the rather dull title of “Untitled Head”) is so interesting.
The evening also featured the west coast premiere of The Bells by rock legend Stewart Copeland (of The Police), which was really cool on so many levels — including that I was just a few feet away from the amazing drummer-now-composer who crushed it at my very first big rock concert back in the days when the Police were an opening band for Oingo Boingo.
Among the highlights of this awesome show were live accompaniment to two silent short films (Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid and Georges Méliès’s The Mermaid), the joyful MC storytelling by MAW Percussion Teaching Artist Michael Werner, and the captivating performances of the Academy fellows.
This was my first Percussionfest, but it definitely won’t be my last.
The complete program setlist featured:
JOSEPH TOMPKINS Board Games
SCOTT FAIRDOSI The Kid
GENE KOSHINSKI The Mermaid
ANDY AKIHO Empty Your Mind
AKIHO Sculptures
Bronze I
Ma
Bronze II
AKIHO to wALk Or ruN in wEst harlem
ERIK GRISWOLD Strings Attached
STEWART COPELAND The Bells (west coast premiere)
CHRISTOPHER ROUSE Bonham
