Stewart Copeland has spent more than three decades at the forefront of contemporary music as rock star and acclaimed film composer, as well as in the disparate worlds of opera, ballet, and world and chamber music. Recruiting Sting and Andy Summers in 1977, Copeland is renowned as the founder of The Police, a band that became a defining force in rock music from the ‘80s through to the present day. His career includes the sale of more than 60 million records worldwide, and numerous awards, including five Grammy awards.
Copeland moved beyond the rock arena in the mid-1980s when he returned to his classical roots with creative pursuits in concert and film music. In 2021, Copeland created a new project, Stewart Copeland: The Police Deranged for Orchestra, which focuses on the epic rise of his career. The concert is an evening bursting with The Police’s biggest hits including ‘Roxanne’,‘Don’t Stand To Close To Me’ and‘Message in a Bottle’ arranged for full symphony orchestra as well as hand-picked highlights from Copeland’s compositions.
The project has toured across Northern America and Europe throughout 2021 – 2022 with many sold-out concerts and will continue touring in to 2023/24 in a new format.
“Copeland explains that the “derangement” of The Police’s music “began as the score for a movie I made out of Super8 footage of the band that I had shot during our rise to glory. Film puts capricious demands on music, so I had to carve up the songs to serve the scenes in the movie, and once the scalpel was out, a whole new frenzy of inspiration from Police music began.” He shares that “delving into the multi-tracks of our original recordings and live performances revealed lost guitar solos, bass lines, and vocal improvisations that were just too cool to leave in obscurity… this discovery is what brings us to this performance: Sting’s songs, Andy’s inventions, and my impunity; all on the page for a wild ride with orchestra and unique musicians from around the world to adapt some of the most loved The Police hits for old and new audiences alike.”