Instrumentation: 2+picc.2.2+bcl.2./4.2.3.1./Hp/Pno/2-perc/Timp/Strings*
Duration: 11 minutes
Year: 2014
Audio Excerpt
Program Notes
Commissioned as a result of winning the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra`s Young Composers competition in 2013, Sinfonia Concertante is a high energy concerto featuring the musicians in the NSYO percussion section. After winning the NSYO competition for composers in 2013, I was given around 8 months to come up with an idea for a new 10 minute piece for the youth orchestra. With the deadline approaching and nothing coming to me, I decided that it was time to change directions and to think about a new perspective towards this piece.
I’ve always loved the power and immediacy of the percussion section, especially in 20th and 21st century orchestral repertoire. As a result, I turned my attention to writing a concerto for the percussion section, which as it turns out, was a very strong section in the NSYO. One month later, Sinfonia Concertante was created after days of frantic work in January 2014.
The piece is in a rough Ternary form, grouped by orchestral bookends in the form a brass chorale. The first section is high energy and intense, growing out of a prolonged Bass Drum rumble from the first percussion. I imagined a sort of ritualistic dance, thus the first minute of music features only percussion playing on repeated patterns. A brass chorale marks the entrance of the full orchestra, which leads us into the exposition. The second section is lyrical and ethereal, featuring solos for the mallets (vibraphone, glockenspiel) and the strings.
Score Sample
Performance History
- Apr 26, 2014, Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra
Wolfville Baptist Church, Wolfville, NS
Dinuk Wijeratne conducting
- Apr 27, 2014, Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra
St. Andrews United Church, Halifax, NS
Dinuk Wijeratne conducting
- May 09, 2015, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Tsuen Wan Town Hall, Hong Kong SAR
Bright Sheng conducting
- Oct 26, 2016, Guelph Symphony Orchestra
River Run Center, Guelph, ON
Judith Yan conducting
- Mar 26, 2019, Austin Civic Orchestra
University of Texas, Austin, TX
Lois Ferrari conducting
Score and Parts
*Double Wind Version Available*
Roydon Tse 