(b.1977)
Ben Foskett was born in Germany in 1977. He began his musical education at the Royal College of Music Junior department where he went on to study with Edwin Roxburgh. It was there that he wrote a remarkable set of orchestral songs, Three Gascoyne Settings. Foskett went on to study with Simon Bainbridge at the Royal Academy of Music and since graduating in 2003, has earned his living entirely as a musician – composing, copying and working as an orchestrator for composers including Joby Talbot and Christian Henson. Foskett’s music has always been characterised by a strong narrative sense and this has been seen, as well as heard, to particular effect in a series of collaborations with the dance company Thresh, where music and movement have often evolved in tandem. Foskett has also composed a more traditional, full-length score, The Scarlet Pimpernel (2006), for the London Children’s Ballet. Writing for dance has in turn fed a rhythmic suppleness into pieces such as the clarinet solo Hornet (premiered in the Park Lane Group Series, 2002) and its ensemble ‘double’, Hornet II.
Ben Foskett Composition Timpani and Percussion Requirements
Some Variations
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Vibraphone
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From Trumpet
Timpani + 5 percussion
Marimba, 2 octaves crotales, vibraphone, glockenspiel, sleigh bells x 2, orchestral bass drum, four tom toms (low to medium)
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On From Four
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Cimbalom, medium wood block, cajón with kick drum pedal, snare drum (wooden with calfskin head), medium tom, 2 ride suspended cymbals
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Violin Concerto
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Vibraphone, orchestral bass drum, sizzle cymbal
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