Maker Tom De Cock

In the 19th century – apart from occasional bits of tone-painting (the thunderstorm in Beethoven's Pastoral, for instance) – percussionists mainly accentuated orchestral cadenzas. At the beginning of the 20th century, their role shifted to the foreground. As a solo percussionist, member of the Ictus Ensemble and former Brussels Philharmonic percussion soloist, Tom De Cock (1982) has played a vital role in many performances. Meanwhile, he has also been active as a conductor (the highlight of this so far being numerous performances of Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach). In the second year of his Makership, he now wants to unite both roles by conducting Edgard Varese’s Amériques, an exceptional work for a huge orchestra with no fewer than fourteen percussionists.