Percussion Orchestrations is the brainchild of eminent percussionist Ed Cervenka. It is a database of Timpani and Percussion requirements for orchestral, operatic and contemporary repertoire, currently containing 9586 works by 824 different composers, and is continually being added to. Each work included is broken down by movement, and denotes specifically which instruments each player requires, and for more complex works, explanatory notes are included.

Significant Dates

• January 2004: Percussion Orchestrations goes online for the first time containing 1200 works and is launched at the RNCM Day of Percussion.
• May 2004: The first orchestra joins
• June 2005: Percussion Orchestrations reaches 2000 works
• January 2006: 10000 hits per week reached
• September 2007: 40 orchestras now members
• October 2007: 20000 hits per week reached
• November 2007: 3000 works reached
• 2008: Launch of new site, with translations into French, German, Spanish and Italian
• January 2010: 5000 works reached
• January 2011: 6000 works reached
• January 2012: Launch of new site, with many additional features
• February 2013: 7000 works reached
• March 2013: 100 orchestras now members
• May 2015: 8000 works reached
• July 2017: Launch of new PDFs feature, with PDFs of Timpani and Percussion parts and Full Scores for over 2000 works

Our Team

Ed Cervenka - Percussion Orchestrations founder and director
Audrey Dantier - French Translator
David Valdés - Spanish Translator
Alexander Radziewski - German Translator
Federico Occhiodoro - Italian Translator

Ed Cervenka studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, and graduated in 1998 having gained the GRNCM and PPRNCM with Distinction. For the past 20 years has freelanced with orchestras all over the UK, including BBC Symphony Orchestra, CBSO, BCMG, BBC Philharmonic, RLPO, Royal Northern Sinfonia, LPO and Manchester Camerata. He has also worked with many of the world’s leading conductors, including Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Vasily Petrenko, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Mark Elder, Sakari Oramo and Valery Gergiev and his playing has taken him all over Europe, to the USA and the Far East.

Ed has also become established as the leading cimbalom player of his generation. He has performed the solo cimbalom part in Kodaly's Hary Janos Suite on some 40 occasions including with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the Hallé Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, and with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the 2011 BBC Proms. He has also worked as a cimbalom player with the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BCMG, and RTÉ Symphony Orchestra. Recordings include Dutilleux's Mystere de L'Instant with the BBC Philharmonic and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and Stravinsky's Ragtime with the European Solosists Ensemble under Ashkenazy. Increasingly in demand as a session musician, Ed has played cimbalom and dulcimer for numerous film soundtracks including The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Dracula Untold, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Captain America Civil War, Pete’s Dragon, Captain Underpants and Mary Poppins Returns. He is also featured in Robbie Williams album Party Like A Russian.

David Valdés gained his BMus at the “Eduardo Martínez Torner” Conservatory in Oviedo with the highest marks: “End of Degree” Prize and “Ángel Muñiz Toca” Extraordinary Award. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, gaining the PgDip (Timpani and Percussion) and LRAM.

He is Principal Timpani/Percussion with the Gijón Symphony Orchestra, also mantaining a busy freelancing schedule. He has played with Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, Oviedo Filarmonía, Orquesta de los Festivales de Asturias, Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta de Cámara Catalana, Moscow Virtuosi, Concerto München Sinfonieorchester (Germany), DWR Rundfunk Orchester Köln (Germany), Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic (Poland), and the Orquestra do Norte (Portugal). He is interested in historically documented performance, and has collaborated with the ensembles Forma Antiqva, Memoria de los Sentidos and Sphera Antiqva. David has participated in a vast number of recordings, and is a busy recording and session musician.
www.david-valdes.com

Alexander Radziewski had his first piano lessons from 1970 and was a Scholarship holder of the Julius-Stern-Institute on Timpani/Percussion and piano from 1978 to 1980 where he had lessons with Oswald Vogler. From 1981-85 he studied at the University of the Arts in West Berlin with Oswald Vogler, graduating with a Bachelor of Music and highest possible degrees. From 1985-87 he studied at the Lübeck University of Music with William Zien (Marimba) and Klaus Reda (Timpani), graduating with the Master of Music with the highest distinction. Since 1987 he has been the Principal Timpanist of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, and permanent substitute with the Hamburg musical productions “Cats“, “Phantom of the Opera“ and also since 2002 with “The Lion King“ on the Marimba. Since 2008 he has been in demand worldwide as a Timpani teacher, and also a Vibraphone teacher with special expertise on the Stevens grip.

Federico Occhiodoro Federico Occhiodoro (5/11/’85 Ancona) is graduated cum laude in Percussion, with a thesis and a recital on solo percussion music written in a non-traditional way, that includes Stockhausen’s “Zyklus”, Feldman’s “The King of Denmark” and various pieces by John Cage. He is specializing in the orchestral repertoire under Edoardo Albino Giachino at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), and studies the solo repertoire for marimba under Daniella Ganeva (teacher at the Royal College of Music in London).He studies and plays ethnic percussion, Bodhràn, drumset, jazz vibraphone and marimba. He obtained good placements at the auditions for percussion at the Fondazione Teatro Regio di Parma and the Fondazione Arena di Verona.

He collaborated with: Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro Regio di Parma, Ensemble ‘900 (youth orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia), Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, Orchestra Rossini di Pesaro, Orchestra della Repubblica di San Marino, Orchestra Bruno Maderna di Forlì, Orchestra di Fiati di Ancona. He plays contemporary music for solo percussion (Stockhausen, Feldman, Cage, ecc.) and for ensemble (he played Bartok’s “Sonata for two pianos and percussion” in 2012 at the Parco della Musica in Roma), plays as a soloist at festivals and exhibitions, and has a solo marimba recital programme. He plays early music (from Renaissaince and Baroque) with the Instrumental Ensemble of the Teatro della Memoria (Rome). He plays drums in variuous styles: jazz, swing, rock, pop, italian songwriting, he plays percussion in modern jazz, funk, and mediterranean jazz, and he plays the vibraphone in traditional jazz, mainstream, pre-bop and vocal-jazz. He also deals with sonorizations in theater, conferences, museums and cultural events.