My Musical Career | Part Thirty Eight

My Musical Career|Part Thirty Eight The Year 1989 – Part Two In my previous post, I had planned to cover the events of the whole of 1989, but as with 1987 and 1988, that year proved to be most eventful, in like manner I have no choice but to divide it …

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My Musical Career | Part Thirty Seven

The Year 1989 – Part One I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been a member of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra during the years 1983 through 1998. From the prospective of the early twenty-first century, it seems that the tenure of Mariss Jansons as its music director was a golden age for the orchestra, …

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My Musical Career | Part Thirty Six

My Musical Career|Part Thirty-Six The Year 1988 – Part Two Japan 1988 The big event of the year 1988 was the orchestra’s first ever tour to Japan in November and December. This would turn out to be the first of many visits the orchestra would make to Japan, and for me, …

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My Musical Career | Part Thirty Five

My Musical Career|Part Thirty-Five The Year 1988 – Part One As mentioned in my previous post, Part Thirty-Four, 1987 was a seminal year in my personal musical development and that of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and its then-chief conductor, Mariss Jansons. What with the increase in touring, the change of recording labels and a higher …

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A Blast from the Past | Part Two

A Blast from the Past| Part Two Stravinsky and Strauss Since my last post, I have been going through the video archive of the NRK that feature the Oslo Philharmonic of my era (1983 -1998) and was able to come up with several that were of more than passing interest to me. The archive included …

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Have Drums, Will Travel!

At the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, 1996

Welcome to Kettledrummer.com! This is the personal website of yours truly, Andrew P. Simco. With over forty years experience as a timpanist, percussionist, educator and clinician, I have had a lot of fun during my career. Having performed with many fine ensembles such as the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Owensboro Symphony Orchestra, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, the Elmhurst and Elgin Symphony Orchestras as well as the Lake George Opera and the Des Moines Metro Opera Festival, I have indeed been very fortunate. Note the subtitle. This is an affectionate tip of the hat to an old TV western that starred the actor Richard Boone, called “Have Gun, Will Travel.” Having been free-lancing and hauling timpani from one gig to another over the course of the last eighteen years, I kind of feel like the character Palladin from that show.
This website is designed not only to let you know who I am and what I have done and am currently up to, but to talk about the timpani and related matters. It is an interesting profession and I am still having a blast after all these years. The site will be built around a series of blog posts – and I hope that as they are posted that you will read and enjoy them.

Kettledrummer.com