Over the next two weeks, Colin will perform Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto six times in three cities across America. He will be joined on-stage by conductors Christopher Dragon and David Danzmayr alongside local orchestras throughout the tour.
The exuberant piece uses an impressive arsenal of percussion instruments (the soloist alone plays 12 instruments in total, including pots and pans, and a metal ‘gizmo’), and showcases Elfman’s classic sound so familiar from his many award-winning film scores. Elfman has described percussion as “a lifelong obsession”, while with this piece he was excited to “really go back to my roots with wood and metal, mallets and sticks and hands, and to really let loose and have some fun with it. I also knew Colin was an extraordinary musician who would be great to collaborate with”.
Of the concerto, Colin said: “It’s been a joy to put together… it’s truly intriguing, and very beautiful and very unexpected.”
Concert dates include 8, 9, 10 March at Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver, Colorado, 16 March at Steven Tanger Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, and 22, 23 March at Abravnel Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Watch Colin talk through the different movements and instruments in the concerto, ahead of his world premiere performance of the piece in 2022 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra: