Percussion soloist Dave Danford will be performing the World-premiere of a major new work from the pen of Rodney Newton later this month.

Response

'Virginia Epitaph' is a symphony for percussion soloist and wind orchestra and was written as a response to a tragedy which occurred in the USA in 2007.

The first performance will be given by the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Wind Orchestra during a concert that also features works by Nigel Clarke, David Bedford, Joseph Horovitz, John Adams and Richard Rodney Bennett.

Return

This is the second solo work Rodney Newton has written for Dave Danford following 'Skeletonality', a light xylophone solo, which Dave premiered with the Cory Band in 2006.

'Virginia Epitaph' is in complete contrast, being of a far more serious genre in the same three-movement format as Britten’s 'Sinfonia da Requiem'.

Dave returns to perform a concerto at the RWCMD for the first time since 2006, although it’s not the first time he’s performed a solo work with the college wind orchestra:

Rodney’s pulled out all the stops with this piece and I’m sure it’ll be an enjoyable experience for both the performers in the orchestra and the audienceDave Danford

Highlight

He told 4BR: "A personal highlight of my time studying at the Royal Welsh College was performing Derek Bourgeois’ Concerto for Percussion with the college wind orchestra in November 2005."

All the stops

He added: "The opportunity was a real boost for me at an early stage in my solo career. Rodney’s pulled out all the stops with this piece and I’m sure it’ll be an enjoyable experience for both the performers in the orchestra and the audience."