From the score.

The Academy presents the ADA – ACCADEMIA DIGIT-ART project “A Digital Archive for Culture and School,” which involves the recovery and archiving of the Scala school’s rich multimedia heritage.

Each week on the Academy’s YouTube channel it will be possible to enjoy some unreleased content spanning ballet, symphony, opera.

We are now at the fifth episode: starring the students of the Academy’s Orchestra, who we see perform an unpublished piece by David Coleman, “Giorno e Notte” for string quartet.

View more on the Accademia Teatro all Scala YouTube channel.

The project is co-funded by Fondazione Cariplo.

Published May 2024

Dancing Percussion – an extravaganza for percussion ensemble created by conductor composer David Coleman.

Seven elite percussionists on stage with an eclectic array of well known and more unusual instruments.

The snare drum leads out and is quickly joined by bass and tenor drums, the majestic congas, and diminutive bongos.

Glockenspiel and Xylophone dance with big brother Vibraphone which is played with beaters and also exotically with the bow of the double bass.

Hear the contributions from the triangle, tubular bells, Indian bells and wind chimes, maracas , castanets, temple blocks, even a whistle stars and of course the cymbals, all reaching a glorious climax with a jazzer’s full drum kit.

Dancing Percussion is a composition in five movements :

Procession – from quiet taps on the snare drum, the big drums gradually join the procession.

Bells – an ethereal soundscape.

Rumba – a full-blooded dance with the spotlight on Vibraphone and Xylophone.

Scherzo – a playful skittish fast moving ’joke’

Uneven Dance – in 5 time, both composed and improvised. The driving jazz rhythms from the drum kit and finally the full ensemble piling in to make a joyous conclusion.

Dancing Percussion was first performed and recorded on stage at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest on Friday 28th June 2024, performed by the Percussion Ensemble of the Opera orchestra.