Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto appears with three different soloists in March 2026. On 7 March Colin Currie – who premiered the 31-minute work in 2022 – presents it with JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic; on 19 March Vivi Vassileva returns to the piece with the Sofia Philharmonic at Bulgaria Hall with Nayden Todorov. Finally, two movements from the piece also make their national debut with Cyrill Metz and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg at the Philharmonie on 20 March, conducted by Charlotte Corderoy.
The Concerto is cast in four movements - Triangle; D.S.C.H; Down; Syncopated. Its outer parts are imbued with a motoric energy from the get-go, whilst its two inner movements are more laid back, entailing a waltz-like tribute to Shostakovich and the shimmering, atmospheric ‘Down’. In addition to the soloist’s extensive collection of instruments – the score lists 12, including an assortment of pots and pans and a metal ‘gizmo’ – five orchestral percussionists make their own thrilling contributions.
Elfman says of the work,
Percussion has always been an important part of my life. Beginning in my travels though West Africa when I was only 18 years old, when I began collecting and learning to play ‘balafons’ (kind of like the African version of a marimba), through my years of playing in metal-based Indonesian Gamalan ensembles in my twenties, as well as building my own strange metal and wood percussion ensembles in my early theatrical performance years, it has always been a lifelong obsession.
The world premiere recording of the piece from Currie with Falletta and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was released in 2024, as part of an all-Elfman orchestral portrait on Sony Classical, that also included his orchestral suite Wunderkammer (2020/22), and short choral-orchestral piece Are You Lost? (2023).
Currie returns to the work in June 2026 with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra in Portland; he has previously performed the piece with the Utah Symphony, Colorado Symphony, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Greensboro Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Pacific Symphony Orchestra. In 2025 Vassileva gave the Bulgarian premiere of the work with the Sofia Philharmonic, as well as presenting the piece with the Nürnberger Symphoniker, conducted by Johannes Fritzsch at the Meistersingerhalle.
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