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“Currie’s athletic playing was as dazzling and as persuasive as the work itself”

The Guardian

“Colin Currie the virtuoso soloist, imagined an orchestral kaleidoscope of flickering lights and perfectly judged timbres.”

Financial Times

“Dense cross rhythms abound in this beautifully crafted showcase… [Currie] leapt between multiple percussion instruments, battled with the strings and fended off fiercely difficult marimba passages without breaking a sweat.”

Bachtrack

“Colin Currie is a musician first and a ­percussionist ­second…The instruments were played with a ­wonderful range of touch…A marvellous ­concert…”

The Telegraph [UK]

Like the physicality of Currie’s performance, the music [Andrew Norman’s “Switch”]worked in sudden turns, ­percussionist and orchestra playing quick passages in strictly ­synchronized rhythm, then switching into percussion concerto mode and then into denser juxtapositions.”

New York Classical Review

“The glory of the evening was the world ­premiere of a piece for marimba by Rolf ­Wallin, Realismos Mágicos…Eyes of a Blue Dog drew forth ­crystals of sound-cluster, flashing from the beaters as they twirled tight and close…with Currie’s dexterity and control of ­dynamic fluctuation as awe-inspiring as the piece itself.”

The Times

“the world’s finest and most ­daring ­percussionist”

Spectator

Colin Currie is a solo and chamber artist who champions new music at the highest level, hailed as being “at the summit of percussion performance today” (Gramophone). Currie is the soloist of choice for many of today’s foremost composers and conductors and performs with the world’s leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Philharmonia Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestras.

A dynamic and adventurous soloist, Currie’s commitment to commissioning and creating new music was recognized in 2015 by the Royal Philharmonic Society who awarded him the Instrumentalist Award. Currie has premiered works by composers such as Steve Reich, Elliott Carter, Louis Andriessen, HK Gruber, Sir James MacMillan, Jennifer Higdon, Brett Dean, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Helen Grime, Kalevi Aho, Julia Wolfe, Andy Akiho, Andrew Norman and most recently Bruno Mantovani, Nicole Lizée and Danny Elfman.

The Colin Currie Group was formed by Colin in 2006 to celebrate the music of Steve Reich and made its five-star debut at the BBC Proms. Since then, with Reich’s personal endorsement, Currie and his virtuosic ensemble have performed at many venues and festivals internationally. A major highlight of Currie’s 2022/23 season is the North American and Japanese premieres of a substantial new work by Steve Reich, Traveler’s Prayer, written for the Colin Currie Group and conducted by Colin Currie at Carnegie Hall, CAL Performances and Tokyo Opera City, following last season’s co-commissioned premieres at The Concertgebouw, Royal Festival Hall, Elbphilharmonie and Philharmonie de Paris. Colin Currie Group also perform a new program of works by Iannis Xenakis at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of Xenakis centenary celebrations.

In October 2017 Currie launched Colin Currie Records, in collaboration with LSO Live, as a platform for recording his diverse projects. He has released two Colin Currie Group discs including Steve Reich’s Drumming, hailed as “thunderously exciting” (The Times), a duo disc with Håkan Hardenberger and HK Gruber Percussion Concertos with the BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena and John Storgårds. Forthcoming plans include the release of a single track, Bryce Dessner’s Tromp Miniature.

Currie will give the world premiere of two new concertos this season – Luke Bedford’s Staggered Nocturne with the Philharmonia Orchestra/Michael Francis, and a new work for family audiences by Gavin Higgins at the Royal Festival Hall. Other highlights of Currie’s season include the European premiere of Nicole Lizée’s percussion concerto Blurr the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes at the BBC Proms with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Austrian premiere of Bruno Mantovani’s Allegro Barbaro with the Tonkunstler Orchestra. He performs the German premiere of Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto in Frankfurt with MDR Leipzig and conducts Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble in Reich/Richter, a special project touring Belgium and the Netherlands. Currie also performs Joey Roukens’ Percussion Concerto conducted by Chloe van Soeterstède in Sweden and Spain, and an innovative chamber program at King’s Place exploring the spatial effects of music with the Colin Currie Quartet.

Colin Currie is co-Artistic Curator of the Grafenegg Academy alongside Håkan Hardenberger, where in summer 2022 he performed the Austrian premiere of Helen Grime’s Percussion Concerto as well as coaching, conducting and performing chamber music with Academy musicians; he is Artist in Association at London’s Southbank Centre, where he continues to perform every season, Ambassador of Chamber Music Scotland and Artist in Residence at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Colin Currie plays Zildjan cymbals and is a MarimbaOne Artist.

2022-2023