Percussion

Rebecca Lagos: Principal Percussion

Rebecca Lagos began her musical studies on the piano and later studied percussion with Richard Miller. She gained her Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, under the tutelage of George Gaber, and on her return to Australia she worked with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra as Acting Principal Timpani, before taking up the position of Principal Timpani with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. In 1987 she was appointed to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as a member of the percussion section.

That same year, she joined Sydney-based percussion ensemble Synergy. Over the next decade she worked with musicians including Trilok Gurtu, Evelyn Glennie, Dave Samuels, David Jones, Mike Nock, and Kazue Sawai. Synergy has premiered and recorded works by numerous Australian composers, and has toured Australia, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region (including performances at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, where they gave a private performance for Toru Takemitsu of his percussion trio, Rain Tree). She has toured Australia and the Asia-Pacific region with Synergy and the Sydney Dance Company for their Synergy With Synergy collaboration. The group has also recorded concertos for percussion ensemble by Carl Vine and Toru Takemitsu with the SSO.

Rebecca Lagos has performed with the Seymour Group, Sydney Alpha Ensemble, Australia Ensemble, TaikOz and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, (including a performance of Messiaen’s From the Canyons to the Stars, in the presence of the composer).

In 2006, she performed with the SSO in the world premiere of Nigel Westlake’s percussion concerto, When the Clock Strikes Me, and was subsequently awarded the prize for Best Performance of an Australian Composition at the APRA 2007 Classical Music Awards. She is also the resident cimbalom player for the SSO.

Rebecca Lagos was appointed to the position of Principal Percussion with the SSO in 2006.

Colin Piper: Percussion

Colin Piper began his musical studies with piano lessons at the age of six. He attended the Sydney Conservatorium High School and subsequently studied piano and percussion at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music. He joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1968, having graduated from the ABC’s National Training Orchestra scheme.

He was a founding member of the Sydney-based percussion ensemble Synergy, which has toured extensively throughout Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, including performances at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (1990), International Percussion Convention (Taipei, 1996) and Expo 2000 (Hannover). Synergy has performed at several Adelaide Festivals, and with the Sydney Dance Company in Sydney, Brisbane, Taipei and Tokyo. He stepped aside from Synergy in 2006 and retired as Chair of its board, a position he held for 10 years.

At the 1976 Adelaide Festival he participated in performances of Hans Werner Henze’s El Cimarron, in the presence of the composer, and also took part in performances with Luciano Berio in 1975, and with Olivier Messiaen during the composer’s 1988 tour to Australia.

Colin Piper also maintains a career as a conductor, working extensively with community and youth orchestras and regularly conducting SSO education concerts. He has conducted most of the major state orchestras, the Sydney University Symphony Orchestra, Barrier Reef Orchestra and the Sydney Opera House Orchestra, as well as conducting a studio orchestra in recording sessions with Australian group INXS in 1991.

He was the coordinator of the Australian National Academy of Music’s first percussion program in 1998 and was a member of the first National Score Reading Panel, the New South Wales Ministry for the Arts Music Committee (1999 and 1994), and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Board (1996 to 2002).