History of Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. Keys or bars (usually made of wood) are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys to aid the performer both visually and physically.
Contemporary composers have utilized the unique sound of the marimba more and more in recent years. Modern marimba was developed by Japanese and American builders based on the Hispanic American traditional marimba.
African marimba music sounds unique to North American audiences because most of the marimba music played in the Western Hemisphere has been South American. However, marimbas originated in Africa hundreds of years ago and were imported to South America in the sixteenth century. The original African sounds were incorporated into and changed by the music of the local cultures.
O Duo
Education
Owen Gunnell and Oliver Cox were both scholars at the Royal College of Music, graduating in 2003 with First Class Honours. In 2004 they were awarded the first Junior Fellowship to be given to a percussion duo at the RCM and in 2005 they were selected for representation by Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT)
Performances
Since 2000, the Duo has given recitals in music clubs and venues throughout the UK. They have performed concertos with the BBC Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras.
Recitals at Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, recorded for Channel 4 TV and BBC Radio 2. They have given concerts in Paris and Madrid and appeared at the Newbury, Cheltenham, Petworth, Brighton and North Aldeborough Festivals. This season the Duo return to Wigmore Hall, appear at LSO St Lukes and the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and will give concerts in Switzerland, the Channel Islands and Mexico.
Recording
O Duo's first commercial CD was released in January 2008 on the Sony/BMG label (8697027202) to critical acclaim - The Daily Telegraph nominating it as CD of the Week (February, 10 2008)
O Duo worked at Abbey Road and Sony studios on television and film scores and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC TV.
Awards
In 2003 and 2004 the Duo won 'Best Music Act of the Fringe' at the Edinburgh Festival and in 2006 was short listed for the Royal Philharmonic Society's young artist award. Other awards have included the 2005 Royal Over-Seas League Elias Fawcett Outstanding Performance Award, a Tunnell Trust award, the Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists, the Tillett Trust Young Artist Platform series, and a Martin Musical Fund-Philharmonia Orchestra award.
Repertoire
O Duo's repertoire, spans more than 300 years of music and is a mix of popular classics and accessible contemporary music played on marimbas, vibraphone and a huge array of percussion. The Duo has performed their own arrangement of Vivaldi's Double Violin Concerto in A minor several times and has started commissioning their own repertoire - concertos and concert pieces by Stephen McNeff, Brian Wiltshire, Ken Johnson and Alan Hoddinott.
Projects
Oliver and Owen take a keen interest in education work, working with London Musici, the Philharmonia Orchestra and London Sinfonietta, among others, and giving concerts and workshops in schools and special needs centres around the country.
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