“I was boxed in as a child by a mechanical brace to straighten the spine. I therefore felt a strong need to express myself in a way that I could not do just through speech. Playing the piano and composing fulfilled that need”.
Colin Decio is a prolific composer with now in excess of three hundred and fifty works including two symphonies, four concertos, a requiem for orchestra, cantata for choir and orchestra, three string quartets, piano quintet, string trio, clarinet trio, two piano trios, organ works - plus many sonatas and sonatinas for violin, guitar, viola, cello, double bass, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and french horn.
Since moving to Aotearoa in August 2016 Colin has composed - solo piano works - Sakura, ex cathedra and Preludes Book 2; a flute sonatina, oboe sonatina, two clarinet sonatinas, two bassoon sonatinas (written during the lockdown of 2020), Chorale for Three Bassoons (Winner of the New Zealand Double Reed Society Chamber Music Competition July 2018), Snatch! for solo clarinet, Hokey-Pokey, a short, fun work for tuba and piano, Barcarolle for cornet and piano (Highly Commended in the Sounz Brass Composition Competition 2020), a second Viola Sonata, a third Cello Sonatina, tiora tioro for solo viola, Lord Have Mercy for viol consort, and three works for full orchestra - Parihaka, which includes a requiem to those who lost their lives, and A Day Trip to White Island/Whakaare: both works were inspired by historical and recent events. And more recently a four-movement Violin Concerto.
Colin has written many works for the piano including nine sonatas, twelve sonatinas, preludes, fantasies, suites, rags and two piano concertos: including the Piano Concerto No.1 'in memoriam John Ogdon'.
His two symphonies were both partly inspired by the beautiful Cotswold countryside and speak of the Cotswold hills and dales giving reference to local places such as Cleeve Common and Toddington.
Other works for the voice inspired by the Cotswolds are settings of the poems of Dymock poet John Drinkwater
Solo song settings of poems by Rupert Brooke, A. E. Houseman, Charles Kingsley, Edward Thomas, Osip Mandelstam and D. H. Lawrence.
Souvenir D’Anne Frank based on Piano Trio No.1, ‘Het Achterhuis’, toured the UK in 2011- 2012 with the blessing of Buddy Elias, Anne Frank’s cousin. The play involved two actors and an onstage piano trio in Brechtian style. The stage itself was strewn with a large circle of white roses. Recordings from World War II announcements were used to set the scene.
In 2010 Colin organised a chamber music series, which included premieres of his String Quartet No. 2, Piano Sonata No. 5, Cello Sonatina no.1, and Noel! Noel! - for eight hands and one piano.
Colin studied piano, classical guitar and composition at the Birmingham School of Music, UK (now Royal Birmingham Conservatoire), graduating in 1986 with five diplomas (including a distinction in composition). He studied composition with Andrew Downes, a former pupil of Herbert Howells and piano with Frank Wibaut, John Humphreys, Roma Foster, and Paul Slater.
Masterclasses in piano and composition with - John Ogdon, Robert Saxton, Bryan Kelly, John Joubert and Ernst Meyer.
Colin performs regularly as a solo pianist, and is accompanist to singers and instrumentalists.
He has given many recitals throughout the UK and with his wife Ingrid Prosser, in 2005, he performed a concert tour of both the North and the South Islands of New Zealand.
Colin was awarded a PGCE in Secondary Music Education in 1996 from the University of East Anglia.
Colin has been a professional keyboard player and musical director performing in many showbands throughout the UK and on cruise ships based in Singapore and Athens.
Awards -
Since moving to Aotearoa in August 2016 Colin has composed - solo piano works - Sakura, ex cathedra and Preludes Book 2; a flute sonatina, oboe sonatina, two clarinet sonatinas, two bassoon sonatinas (written during the lockdown of 2020), Chorale for Three Bassoons (Winner of the New Zealand Double Reed Society Chamber Music Competition July 2018), Snatch! for solo clarinet, Hokey-Pokey, a short, fun work for tuba and piano, Barcarolle for cornet and piano (Highly Commended in the Sounz Brass Composition Competition 2020), a second Viola Sonata, a third Cello Sonatina, tiora tioro for solo viola, Lord Have Mercy for viol consort, and three works for full orchestra - Parihaka, which includes a requiem to those who lost their lives, and A Day Trip to White Island/Whakaare: both works were inspired by historical and recent events. And more recently a four-movement Violin Concerto.
Colin has written many works for the piano including nine sonatas, twelve sonatinas, preludes, fantasies, suites, rags and two piano concertos: including the Piano Concerto No.1 'in memoriam John Ogdon'.
His two symphonies were both partly inspired by the beautiful Cotswold countryside and speak of the Cotswold hills and dales giving reference to local places such as Cleeve Common and Toddington.
- Symphony No. 1 received its premiere on June 7th, 2008, in Gloucester Cathedral performed by the Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Finch. It received a standing ovation. The Mayor of Gloucester and his wife attended the occasion.
- Symphony No. 2 premiered in 2005 in Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham (dedicated to Lord Nigel Jones). The final movement is marked ‘Gustav Holst in memoriam’. In the finale there is a Ukrainian folk tune taught to Colin by his relatives when he visited them in the post-Soviet Ukraine.
Other works for the voice inspired by the Cotswolds are settings of the poems of Dymock poet John Drinkwater
- Cotswold Songs, a song cycle for high voice and piano
- A Sabbath Day for mezzo-soprano and guitar
- Songs of Travel for tenor and piano.
Solo song settings of poems by Rupert Brooke, A. E. Houseman, Charles Kingsley, Edward Thomas, Osip Mandelstam and D. H. Lawrence.
Souvenir D’Anne Frank based on Piano Trio No.1, ‘Het Achterhuis’, toured the UK in 2011- 2012 with the blessing of Buddy Elias, Anne Frank’s cousin. The play involved two actors and an onstage piano trio in Brechtian style. The stage itself was strewn with a large circle of white roses. Recordings from World War II announcements were used to set the scene.
In 2010 Colin organised a chamber music series, which included premieres of his String Quartet No. 2, Piano Sonata No. 5, Cello Sonatina no.1, and Noel! Noel! - for eight hands and one piano.
Colin studied piano, classical guitar and composition at the Birmingham School of Music, UK (now Royal Birmingham Conservatoire), graduating in 1986 with five diplomas (including a distinction in composition). He studied composition with Andrew Downes, a former pupil of Herbert Howells and piano with Frank Wibaut, John Humphreys, Roma Foster, and Paul Slater.
Masterclasses in piano and composition with - John Ogdon, Robert Saxton, Bryan Kelly, John Joubert and Ernst Meyer.
Colin performs regularly as a solo pianist, and is accompanist to singers and instrumentalists.
He has given many recitals throughout the UK and with his wife Ingrid Prosser, in 2005, he performed a concert tour of both the North and the South Islands of New Zealand.
Colin was awarded a PGCE in Secondary Music Education in 1996 from the University of East Anglia.
Colin has been a professional keyboard player and musical director performing in many showbands throughout the UK and on cruise ships based in Singapore and Athens.
Awards -
- Highly Commended in the Sounz Brass Composition Competition 2020
- Winner of the New Zealand Double Reed Society Chamber Music Competition July 2018
- Finalist in the Auckland Clarinet Composition Competition 2018
- Winner of the Burke Trophy for Advanced Piano 1986
- Winner of the John Ireland Chamber Music Prize 1986
- Winner of the Birmingham Midland Institute Composition Prize 1986
- Winner of the piano section of the Ludlow Philharmonic Concerto Competition 1986
The Souvenir d'Anne Frank rose grown in Japan
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"A hand that knows the beauty of a rose flower cannot drop a bomb on Hiroshima" Osho |
“My work was once described as ‘Dynamism’ - I like that name!"