The live experience
What reaches the room
Seven Pillars is an innovative 80-minute palindrome-structured work for a percussion quartet, composed by Andy Akiho and performed by Sandbox Percussion. The piece unfolds across four solo movements, accompanied by 11 videos, and is brought to life through multimedia staging by Michael McQuilken. The project released an album in September 2021 and quickly drew acclaim, earning two Grammy nominations in 2022 and securing a Pulitzer Prize finalist nod the same year. Sandbox Percussion has toured Seven Pillars worldwide, from Paris to Beijing, and performed in renowned venues such as Herbst Theatre in San Francisco and the Kaneko in Omaha. As the artists continue to explore new material through the Pentalateral project in 2025, Seven Pillars remains a centerpiece of contemporary percussion repertoire.