Douglas Akey Biography
Douglas Akey began his musical training in the public schools of Elmhurst, Illinois. He attended Arizona State University on a performance scholarship, earning a Bachelor of Music degree in Instrumental Music (1979) and a Master of Music in Solo Performance (1985). He also studied brass performance for two summers at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts in Alberta, Canada. He has studied horn with Carroll Simmons – Grant Park Orchestra (Chicago), William Strickland – free-lance hornist (New York), Ralph Lockwood – Arizona State University, and Roland Pandolfi – Principal Horn, St. Louis Symphony.
Douglas began teaching band at the middle level in Arizona in 1979. His bands have been invited to perform at numerous education conferences, including the 1992 Western Regional Middle Level Consortium, the 1994 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the 1997 American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, the 1998 Music Educators National Conference, and ten annual In-Service Conferences of the Arizona Music Educators Association. He frequently serves as a clinician, having directed many honor bands and presented numerous conference sessions throughout the United States. He is currently Band Director and Instructor in Music Technology at the Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies.
Since the publication of his first work in 1987, Douglas has become a respected composer of wind and percussion music. His works appear on dozens of state contest lists and are per formed by bands throughout North America, Europe, Australia and the Far East. Douglas is an active performer, having played with the Del Sol and Arizona Brass Quintets, as well as the Phoenix and Tucson Symphony Orchestras. He currently serves as both the principal horn and assistant conductor of the Tempe Symphony Orchestra.
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