Virginia Epitaph is a symphony for percussion soloist and wind orchestra and was written as a response to a tragedy which occurred in the USA in 2007. The first performance will be given by the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Wind Orchestra during a concert that also features works by Nigel Clarke, David Bedford, Joseph Horovitz, John Adams and Richard Rodney Bennett. 

This is the second solo work Rodney Newton has written for Dave Danford following Skeletonality, a light xylophone solo, which Dave premiered with the Cory Band in June 2006. Virginia Epitaph is in complete contrast, being of a far more serious genre in the same three-movement format as Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem. 

Dave returns to perform a concerto at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama for the first time since March 2006, when he performed another of Rodney Newton’s works, Variations for Percussion, with the college brass band. It’s also not the first time he’s performed a solo work with the college wind orchestra: 

“A personal highlight of my time studying at the Royal Welsh College was performing Derek Bourgeois’ Concerto for Percussion with the college wind orchestra in November 2005”, Dave explains. “The opportunity was a real boost for me at an early stage in my solo career and I’m really excited about being invited back during the college’s 40^th anniversary year to perform something brand new. Rodney’s pulled out all the stops with this piece and I’m sure it’ll be an enjoyable experience for both the performers in the orchestra and the audience”. 

The concert takes place at St. Andrew & St. Teilo’s Church in Cardiff at 7.30pm on Wednesday 11^th March 2009.