Dyad Percussion Duo

Toby Kearney and Dan Jones

Saturday 12 December 2010 • 7.30pm
Gordon Arms Hotel, Huntly (map)

Tickets £8.00, £5.00 (concession), free (schoolchildren)
available from Deveron Arts, Brander Library, Orb's Bookshop, Rizza's shop, or at the door

Toby Kearney and Dan Jones met at the Royal Northern College of Music Junior School in 2004 and have been playing as a duo since 2005. The Duo has appeared at Wigmore Hall, St George's Bristol and venues up and down the country, including a series of concerts in the West Country, in Liverpool, and the world premiere of a new work by Dave Onac at the RNCM. Their repertoire includes music by the hugely popular Japanese composers Minoru Miki and Keiko Abe, alongside music by the marimba virtuoso Eric Sammut and music from America by Wayne Siegel, Steve Reich and Chick Corea.

Born in 1988, Toby Kearney studied percussion with Andrea Vogler at the Royal Northern College of Music Junior School, in 2006 receiving the Director's award. He is currently studying percussion with Ian Wright, Liz Gilliver and Dave Hassell at the RNCM on a graduate course. He has participated in masterclasses given by the world renowned marimba player and composer Eric Sammut, Simone Rebello and the percussion quartet 4-MALITY and recently attended an intensive masterclass at the French Académie Musicale de Villecroze, to study with the legendary marimba soloist Keiko Abe.

In 2006 Toby was a concerto finalist in the BBC Young Musicians Competition performing James Macmillan's Veni, Veni Emmanuel with the Northern Sinfonia under Yan Pascal Tortelier. Since then his engagements have included a tour of Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, and recitals at Wigmore Hall and St George's Bristol. In June 2007 Toby performed the world premiere of a percussion concerto Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Matthew Sergeant at the Royal Northern College of Music with conductor Clark Rundell and the RNCM Chamber Orchestra.

Toby was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for two years, and previously played in the National Children's Orchestra and National Youth Music Theatre where he worked with composers writing music for two new musicals, Born of Glass and Goblin Market. He worked with the NYO Band on an outreach project at schools in Tower Hamlets in London throughout 2007.

Dan Jones has been playing percussion for nine years. From 2001 to 2006 he studied with Ian Forgrieve at the Royal Northern College of Music Junior Department and is currently studying Music on the Joint Course at the University of Manchester and the RNCM with Ian Wright, Liz Gilliver, Paul Patrick and Dave Hassell.

In 2006, Dan won the Rotary Young Musician of the Year competition and went on to become a semi-finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in the same year. He was a member of the National Children's Orchestra, the National Youth Wind Ensemble and, most recently, the National Youth Orchestra.

Dan has worked with the National Youth Orchestra Band on outreach projects at schools in inner-city areas of London. He also planned and ran his own workshops at primary schools in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire and is interested in continuing with similar ventures in the future. Recent engagements have included concerts at St George's Hall, Bristol, Wigmore Hall and RNCM.

Promoted by Music Centeral as part of Sound, North-East Scotland's festival of new music.