(b. 1971)
Born in London in 1971, Thomas Adès studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and read music at King’s College, Cambridge. Between 1993 and 1995 he was Composer in Association with the Hallé Orchestra, which resulted in The Origin of the Harp (1994), and These Premises Are Alarmed for the opening of the Bridgewater Hall in 1996. Asyla (1997) was a Feeney Trust commission for Sir Simon Rattle and the CBSO, who toured it together, and repeated it at Symphony Hall in August 1998 in Rattle’s last concert as Music Director. Rattle subsequently programmed Asyla in his opening concert with the Berlin Philharmonic as Music Director in September 2002.
Thomas Ades Composition Timpani and Percussion Requirements
...but all shall be well
No Timpani + 6 percussion + celeste
Timpani, 6 triangles, 2 pairs sandpaper blocks, orchestral bass drum, 2 antique cymbals, maracas, glockenspiel, temple bowl, vibraslap, vibraphone, tam tam, gurio, roto toms x 3, celeste
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America
Timpani + 4 percussion
3 Roto toms, 2 sets temple bells, snare drum, 2 tenor drums, 6 field drums, orchestral bass drum, tam tam, superball, ratchet
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Asyla
No Timpani + 6 percussion + 1 celeste
6 timpani, 4 roto toms, 5 hand drums, 2 bell plates, tuned cowbell (1 octave), 4 tubular bells, chinese cymbal, 2 hi hat, 3 tins, surf drum, 2 water gongs (C4, C#), 2 ratchet, washboard, 11 tuned gongs (Eb2 - Eb4, E4, A4, Bb4, C#5, D5 - B2, F#3, G3, B4), 2 suspended cymbal, splash cymbal, 2 snare drums, sandpaper blocks, bag of knives/forks, glockenspiel, clash cymbals, orchestral bass drum, kit bass drum, 2 octaves crotales, celeste
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Brahms
Timpani + 1 percussion
Triangle, high anvil, baking trays x 6
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Chamber Symphony
No Timpani + 2 percussion
Triangle, cowbell, woodblock, snare drum, hi hat, guiro, 3 tam tams, 2 hand drums, wood chimes, flexatone, bell tree, shell chimes, maracas, 2 octaves crotales
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Concerto Conciso
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Timpani, 2 octaves crotales, roto toms x 3, temple bells, 2 wood drums, log drum, talking drum, wood chimes, hi-hat, tam tam, anvil, kit bass drum
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Fool's Rhymes
Suspended cymbal, guiro, bongos, triangle, snare drum
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In Seven Days
Timpani + 4 percussion
Vibraphone, glockenspiel, 2 octaves crotales. tubular bells. hand bells, clash cymbals, 2 suspended cymbals, trinagle, claves, bongos, cabassa, 3 bell plates, 3 large gongs, B1, C#2, D2. tam tam, 4 rototom, snare drum, orchestral bass drum
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Lieux retrouvés
No Timpani + 2 percussion + celeste
2 octaves crotales, vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba, xylohone, tambourine, guiro, 2 cowbells, swanee whistle, police whistle, siren whistle, lions roar, washboard, small ratchet, hi hat, small suspeded cymbal, tam tam, snare drum, tenor drum, pedal bass drum, celeste
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Living Toys
No Timpani + 1 percussion
3 gongs, 2 timpani, 2 single crotales, talking drum, triangle, 2 suspended cymbal, paper sheet, 2 cowbells, 2 temple bells, guiro, castanets, piccolo snare drum, field drum, kit bass drum, vibraslap
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Overture to the Tempest
Timpani + 3 percussion
Small whip, thunder sheet, tam tam, snare drum x 2 (medium and deep), orchestral bass drum
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Polaris
Timpani + 6 percussion + celeste
Marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, tubular bells, 2 octaves crotales, wood chimes, shell chimes, tam tam, orchestral bass drum, celeste
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Powder Her Face
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Hi-hat, 2 suspended cymbal, snare drum, vibraslap, orchestral bass drum, washboard, cabassa, lions roar, clash cymbals, pop gun, large fishing reel, tubular bells, tam tam, flexatone, woodblock, 3 brake drums, 3 temple bells, kit bass drum, bongos, timbales, sizzle cymbal, guiro, roto tom, electric bell, ratchet, swanee whistle, wood chimes, glass chimes, shell chimes, metal wind chimes, whip
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Tevot
2 Timpani + 6 percussion + 1 celeste
Glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, marimba, 2 octaves crotales, tuned anvils, tuned trash tins, 4 large handbells, tubular bells, 3 bell plates, 7 tuned gongs, clash cymbals, snare drum, field drum, log drum, large gong, tam tam, orchestral bass drum, celeste
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The Exterminating Angel
Timpani (doubling roto toms) + 4 percussion + 12 offstage
Glockenspiel, xylophone, tubular bells, 6 antique cymbals, small lead steel pan, 4 saucepans, 4 tuned gongs, 2 bell plates, bass bell, newspaper, small bell tree, metal wind chimes, traditional castanets, mounted castanet machine, 2 x maracas (small and large), metal maracs, double guiro (high and low), cabassa, small whip, door slam effect, small anvil, small wood block, small ratchet, tambourine, small bongo, deep log drum, tavoette, washboard, lions roar, 2 large stones, 2 spring coils, triangle, small cowbell, clash cymbals, 2 suspended cymbals, (small and large), hi-hat, 2 sizzle cymbals, tam tam, snare drum, tenor drum, pedal bass drum, orchestral bass drum with cymbals attached - 4 players offstage playing 8 church bells or bass handbells - offstage massed drums – 8-10 players (military drums, small portable bass drums or tenor drums)
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The Origin of the Harp
No Timpani + 1 percussion
3 suspended cymbals, sizzle cymbal, wind chimes, orchestral bass drum, small rattles attached to marimba mallets x 2, 7 gongs, marimba, 2 pedal roto toms, timpani, marimbula + additional rainstick
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The Tempest - Opera
Orchestral bass drum, tam tam, glockenspiel, suspended cymbal x 2, hi hat, anvil, whip, snare drum, geophone, branches with dried leaves, ratchet, log drum, small and large shell chimes, small thundersheet, 2 high whips (slapstick), 2 triangle, metal maracas, theatre lightning, pedal bass drum, keyboard glockenspiel. Off stage - handbells D# & E6, crotale low E
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These Premises Are Alarmed
No Timpani+ 4 percussion + 1 celeste
2 octaves crotales, marimba, 9 large roasting tins, hi hat, 4 field drums, finger cymbals, 4 gongs, glockenspiel, 2 orchestral bass drums, tam tam, surf drum, 2 wood blocks, timpani, 3 snare drums, roto tom, celeste
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Three Studies from Couperin
No Timpani + 3 percussion
5 octave marimba, 2 small metal bars, 5 roto toms, 3 timpani (large-small)
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Totentanz
Timpani + 8 percussion
Glockenspiel, vibraphone, 5 octave marimba, 2 octaves crotales, tubular bells, xylophone, bell plates A#3 & B3, gongs Ab3 & Bb3, 4 tuned anvils A4, Bb4, D4, Eb4, small steel sheet, small tam tam, large tam tam, 8 suspended cymbals, clash cymbals, hi hat, 4 snare drums, field drum, 2 deep military tenor drums, 60" taiko (mounted horizontally), pedal bass drum, orchestral bass drum with clash cymbals attached, orchestral bass drum, 2 small and high swanee whistles, ref's whistle (highest available), 2 siren whistles, 3 whips (one deep, two high), 2 wooden clappers (small double whips usable in one hand), 2 small plastic maracas, 2 small ratchets (high and low), large guiro, tambourine, 2 pairs of bamboo canes (lengths about 2" in diameter, 12" long), 5 pairs of bones
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Concerto - Concentric Paths
Timpani + 2 percussion
Orchestral bass drum, low wood drum, snare drum, 3 low drums of different pitches, tam tam, clash cymbals, suspended cymbal, small bongo, metal guiro, wood guiro, wood block, cowbell, metal can, metal block
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