Professional percussionists

The professional concert series continued with a performance by percussionists O Duo on Friday 19 February.  Described by The Daily Telegraph as ‘brimming with style and panache', over the last year O Duo have made their BBC Proms debut, won a Special Commissioning Award from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and been appointed Artistic Directors of the Children's Classic Concerts series in Scotland.   In 2010 they will give the premiere of an especially commissioned concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican as part of the BBC's 80th birthday concert which will be televised and return to Wigmore Hall.

Formed in 2000 at the Royal College of Music, O Duo released their first commercial CD on the Sony BMG label in 2007 to critical acclaim.  They have given concerts as far afield as the Al Bustan, Harare and Mexico City Festivals and in Paris, Madrid, Lucerne, Germany and Bulgaria and performed concertos with the BBC Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras.  This season they appear at the City of London and Cheltenham Festivals and return to Germany, Switzerland, the Channel Islands and Mexico. 

Outstanding communicators, O Duo have worked at Abbey Road and Sony studios on television and film scores and broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and 3, Classic FM, Channel 4 and BBC Television.  They have given recitals at major venues and festivals throughout the UK including Wigmore Hall, Barbican, Queen's Hall Edinburgh, Royal Concert Hall Glasgow, Buxton and Gregynog.  In 2003 and 2004 they won Best Music Act of the Fringe at the Edinburgh Festival.
 
Oliver and Owen take a keen interest in education work.  They have given workshops and concerts in schools and special needs centres throughout the UK, and led creative education projects involving composition and performance. Before the concert they held a masterclass for young percussionists from Queen Anne's and The Oratory, offering the students a rare chance to experiment with compositions using a wide range of percussion instruments from around the world.

The final concert in the 2010 professional musician series features VOCES 8, an international, award-winning vocal octet. This takes place on Friday 23 April.  For details contact Jill Carter on 0118 918 7303 or email jill.carter@qas.org.uk

22.2.10