On 17 September the revised version of Francisco Coll’s trombone concerto Tapias premieres with Ian Bousfield and the Stavanger Symfoniorkester, conducted by Nuno Coelho.
The 15-minute piece is cast in three movements. Its title (‘Walls’) reflects its preoccupations: graffiti, various kinds of dance music, and the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. “The trombone is my instrument”, Coll writes, “and I have wanted to bring to the fore the lyrical and delicate aspects of its character”. These qualities come out especially in the work’s new finale – a kind of lament. Its second movement, conversely, is more angular and playful in character, with forceful writing that punches and leaps.
Originally written in 2008, the revised version of Tapias was commissioned for the trombonist by Stavanger Symfoniorkester Orquestra, Simfònica De Les Illes Balears, the 34th Music Biennale Zagreb, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland Pfalz, and Sinfónica de Tenerife. It will make its Spanish debut in Gran Canaria on 12 December 2026 with further performances in Tenerife and Germany in May 2027. The previous version of the piece has been performed by the Spanish National Orchestra in 2015 with Juan Carlos Matamoros and George Pehlivanian, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with Otto Tausk and Simon Johnson.
Coll’s celebrated Piano Concerto for Kirill Gerstein makes its North American debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons in October and receives its South American premiere from Thierry Fischer and the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo. The electrifying 21-minute piece is a tour-de-force for Gerstein, who premiered it with Simon Rattle and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2026, evoking Conlon Nancarrow, Boogie-Woogie, in an unpredictable and dynamic stylistic melange.
Coll’s Elysian makes its UK debut on 23 October at the Barbican with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo. The 14-minute work sketches a cityscape, expressing Coll’s fascination with the hypermodern urban spaces. Coll’s ideas were especially shaped by the work of French Philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky and his concept of the World-City. Such a city represents, as Coll puts it, an “explosive and intense way of living.”