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Recent Projects - 2013

December 2013: Alun featured as principal percussionist with the Cardiff County & Vale of Glamorgan Youth Orchestra performing Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad". Eric Phillips MBE was the conductor.

December 2013: Alun played in the Royal College of Music Opera project performing Ravel's L'heure espagnole and L'enfant et les sortilèges. The Conductor was Michael Rosewell

November 2013: Alun performed with the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra under the Conductor John Wilson. The programme included Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem and Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances

October 2013: Alun featured as part of the Southbank's The Rest Is Noise programme performing Javier Alvarez's Temazcal on the Maracas four times over the weekend of 5 & 6 October.

Maracas - Frank Zappas no 12

The title of this work comes from the Nahuatl (ancient Aztec) word literally meaning 'water that burns'. This is a piece heavily influenced by the Venezuelan flatlands where the role of the macaras surpasses that of mere cadence and accent punctuation to become a soloistic instrument in its own right. The piece involves mastering short patterns and then combining them with great virtuosity to construct larger complex rhythmic structures which are then juxtaposed against similar passages on tape (involving harp, folk guitar and bamboo rods) creating a dense polyrhythmic web.

October 2013: Alun played with the Royal College of Music Philharmonic "Northern Lights I" concert. The programme, under the baton of Emmanuel Siffert, consisted of: Sibelius's Karelia Overture op 10; Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto op 57, featuring Benjamin Mellefont, winner of the RCM Concerto Competition 2013 and Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite no 1 op 46

August 2013: Residential course and tour with the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. The course and tour enabled Alun to work with conductor Grant Llewellyn, and orchestral percussionist Grahame King. The demanding programme included Catrin Finch's Harp Concerto Hedd Wyn, Joseph Davies' Byzantium and Sergei Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances.

The 7 concert tour took in St David's Cathedral, Venue Cymru Llandudno, St David's Hall Cardiff in Wales and Brandenburg Cathedral, Altenburg Music Festival, MDR Musiksommer Festival Wolfsburg in Germany with the highlight of the tour performing at the Young Euro Classics Festival in the Berlin Konzerthaus.

July 2013: Alun supported the "Off Track Theatre Company" in Brighton & Hove with their production of Stephen Sondheim's Musical "Into the Woods" under the directorship of Jude Obermüller .

June 2013: Alun performed with the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Ilyich Rivas. The exciting programme included Shostakovich's Symphony no 6 in B minor op 54, Strauss' Fünf Don Juan and Symphonic Dances from Bernstein's West Side Story.

May 2013: This month Alun has performed in two concerts at the Royal College of Music:

◊ Messiaen's Turangalila with the RCM Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thierry Fischer at the Royal Festival Hall, London.

◊ The RCM's Percussion Showcase, which featured: Stomp (arr. for Matchboxes by Emma Arden) by Luke Cresswell & Steve McNicholas; Trio Per Uno (1st movt) by Nebojsa Zivkovic; William Tell Overture (arra.for Timps) by Gioachino Rossini; Introspection for 24 Percussionists by Dani Howard; RCM Redhocks Drumline by Kevin Miles and an Abba Medley (arr by Steffan Ciccotti).

February 2013: Alun supported Les Voix Nouvelles performing Olivier Messiaen's Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum in St John's Smith Square conducted by Jean-Louis Gosselin.

February 2013: This month Alun has performed in two concerts at the Royal College of Music:

◊ The RCM Percussion Showcase with Michael Burritt.

◊ The RCM's Variable Geometry project featuring Steve Reich's Tehillim under the baton of Jean-Philippe Calvin.

January 2013: This month has seen a busy start to the new year, with Alun featuring in three concerts at the Royal College of Music:

◊ The RCM Philharmonic Orchestra performing Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring under Martin Andre.

11 timps

◊ The RCM Percussion Showcase where he featured in a trio performing a new arrangement for 11 timpani of The Sailor's Hornpipe by J. Dale, Jupiter by G.Holst and The 1812 Overture by P.Tchaikovsky.

◊ The RCM Brass Ensemble performing Gunther Schuller's Symphony for brass and percussion op 16.