British born Alan Cumberland studied piano and violin from an early age and added percussion to these in his teens. He performed with all the major symphony orchestras in London and was invited to join the London Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he remained as principal timpanist for twenty years. He was a member of the Board of Directors for nine years.
With the LPO, he made numerous recordings for television, film and disc and undertook many world tours. The orchestra's principal conductors during that time were Haitink, Solti and Tennstedt, with annual guest appearances by Barenboim, Boult, A Davis, Eschenbach, Giulini, Handley, Horenstein, Jochum, Krips, Maazel, Marriner, Pritchard, Rattle, Rostropovitch, Sanderling, Stokowski , Svetlanov and de Waart. With the LPO and other London orchestras, he worked regularly with Abbado, Barbirolli,
Bernstein, Britten, Copland, C Davis, Fruhbeck de Burgos, Horenstein, Markevitch, Mehta, Previn, M Shostakovich, Szell and a host of others. Legendary soloists included Accardo, Allen, Arrau, Ashkenazy, Bacchauer, J Baker, Brendel, Carreras, Curzon, Domingo, Fischer-Dieskau, Galway, Gedda, Haendel, R Hunter, te Kanawa, Kempff, Kennedy, Kremer, Lupu, Menuhin, Milstein, Nelsova, J Norman, D and I Oistrakh, Pauk, Pavarotti, Perlman, Perahia, du Pre, Rostropovitch, Rubenstein, Sills, Stern, Szeryng, Sutherland, Tortelier, Zukerman and so many more.
He was also Professor of Timpani at the Royal College of Music from 1970 and examiner for the Royal Schools and Trinity College London. He held masterclasses on a regular basis in Europe, USA, Asia and Australia.
In 1987, he was offered a post at the Queensland Conservatorium, Australia and for the next 11 years was Senior Lecturer in Timpani and Percussion, Resident Conductor of the Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra and Principal of the Young Conservatorium. He was the Chairman of the Queensland Percussion Panel of the Australian Music Examinations Board. He also conducted the Queensland Symphony and Queensland Philharmonic Orchestras.
He was invited to perform as principal timpanist with the World Philharmonic Orchestra in Bangkok in 1996 to perform the first symphony of Mahler before King Bhumipol and has returned to Thailand on many occasions to coach members of the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and to give masterclasses for timpani and percussion students.
Alan Cumberland joined the staff of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in September 1998 as Head of Woodwind, Brass and Percussion, and is Resident Conductor of the Academy Symphony Orchestra. He directed the orchestra in Spain, France and England and has conducted twelve operas and the hit show ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ at the Academy.
