Cork-born Alex Petcu-Colan keeps banging on about percussion

The Cork-born musician will be joined on stage by his sister at the NCH tonight, writes Jo Kerrigan.

ALEX PETCU-COLAN couldn’t really avoid music if he tried. Born in Cork to a family that was already deep in the tradition, he would have found it difficult to take his toddler feet from the path already laid out before him.

However, as soon as he reasonably could, the youngest member of the Petcu household struck out on a side track definitely less travelled. Now aged 28, he is an established and widely-acknowledged percussionist and was recently announced as the recipient of the National Concert Hall’s Rising Star Award for 2015. This award brings with it the rewarding challenge of a special recital at that august venue tonight.