AkMi Duo

The saxophone-and-piano Akmi Duo has unearthed and performed a considerable amount of modern and contemporary repertory for its rare instrument combination. The duo released its debut album, Beyond the Wall, in 2023. The Akmi Duo consists of saxophonist Valentine Michaud and Akvilé Sileikaité. The group's name is sometimes stylized as AKMI Duo or AkMi Duo. Michaud, born in France in 1993, took up the saxophone at eight, received her own saxophone at 11, and is still playing the same instrument. She studied with Slava Kazykin and Joël Hérissé. She also earned music education degrees at the Haut-École de Musique in Lausanne, Switzerland. In the late 2000s decade, she moved permanently to Switzerland, where she worked with Pierre-Stéphane Meugé and Lars Mlekusch at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne while also earning a musicology degree at the Sorbonne in Paris. Sileikaité is a native of Lithuania, born in 1992. She studied piano for more than ten years with Tatjana Romashkin and took lessons as a painter with Loreta Laurinavičienė. She graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater in 2015; her principal teacher there was Daumantas Kirilauskas. At that point, Sileikaité, too, moved to Switzerland. Both she and Michaud enrolled at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. Soon, they met and decided to join forces as the Akmi Duo, forming the name from parts of their own names. Both have continued their educations and individual careers; Sileikaité has won prizes in multiple countries, and Michaud is on the faculty of the Conservatoire Populaire de Musique de Genève and formed the Sax Up! academy for young saxophonists. The Akmi Duo made its debut at the Lucerne Festival and soon went on to play top venues such as the KKL Luzern culture center, the Moscow Conservatory, and the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella. The pair won several honors as a duo, including second prize at the Salieri Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition in Verona and first prize at the Orpheus Swiss Chamber Music Competition, both in 2018. The group has appeared at major venues and festivals, including Wigmore Hall in London, Musikwoche Braunwald in Switzerland, and the Zurich International Saxfest. With a strong commitment to 20th century and contemporary music, the duo has unearthed many rare compositions and developed a substantial saxophone-and-piano repertory. That was reflected in the Akmi Duo's debut album, Beyond the Wall, which appeared on the Avie label in 2023.
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