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

Concerto highlights of the 2024/25 season include James MacMillan’s Veni Veni Emmanuel with the Hallé Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra; Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (with whom he recorded the piece on Sony Classical in 2024); Andy Akiho’s Percussion Concerto with Brussels Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, and BBC Scottish Symphony (in its UK premiere); Tan Dun’s Water Concerto with the London Philharmonic; Andrew Norman’s Switch with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra; and the UK premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Percussion Concerto with BBC Scottish Symphony. Elsewhere, Currie will unveil a new solo recital programme at Wigmore Hall including the world premiere of a work by Dani Howard. The Colin Currie Quartet perform at King’s Place and Quilter Hall Wells, premiering new works by Anna Meredith and Ben Nobuto.

Currie’s conducting career launched with the Colin Currie Group, which he led in performances of music by Steve Reich. He has gone on to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble, Britten Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Lapland Chamber Orchestra and Grafenegg Academy Orchestra. This season, Currie conducts the Hallé in a Philip Glass Festival, Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble on a Dutch tour in a programme celebrating Steve Reich, São Paulo Symphony Music Academy, Brighton Philharmonic and ensembles at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

The Colin Currie Group was formed by Currie in 2006 to celebrate the music of Steve Reich, making 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. In 2021 they premiered a substantial new work by Reich, Traveler’s Prayer, which was commissioned by the Zaterdag Matinee at the Concertgebouw, Royal Festival Hall, Elbphilharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, Carnegie Hall, CAL Performances and Tokyo Opera City. This season, the Group will perform an all-Reich programme at the Milan Conservatory including Reich’s Drumming, which they performed last season at Festival Présences in Paris.

In October 2017, Currie partnered with LSO Live to launch Colin Currie Records, a platform for recording his diverse projects. He has since released three Colin Currie Group discs including Steve Reich’s Drumming, commended as “thunderously exciting” (The Times), a duo disc with Håkan Hardenberger, and an album of HK Gruber’s Percussion Concertos with the BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena and John Storgårds. The most recent release on Colin Currie Records, Music for 18 Musicians, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and has received widespread critical acclaim, lauded as “a sublime and reflective recording” (Gramophone, Editor’s Choice July 2023).

Currie is Associate Artist at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Visiting Professor of Modern Ensembles at the Royal Academy of Music, and Ambassador of Chamber Music Scotland.

Colin Currie plays Zildjan cymbals and is a MarimbaOne Artist.

SEPTEMBER 2024