Hailed as being “at the summit of percussion performance today” (Gramophone), Colin Currie is a soloist and conductor who champions new music at the highest level. Currie is the soloist of choice for many of today’s foremost composers and conductors, and has appeared with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and London Philharmonic Orchestra.

A dynamic and adventurous soloist, Currie’s commitment to commissioning and creating new music has been recognised by the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award. Currie has premiered works by composers such as Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, HK Gruber, Sir James MacMillan, Mark Anthony Turnage, Jennifer Higdon, Brett Dean, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Helen Grime, Kalevi Aho, Julia Wolfe, Andy Akiho, Andrew Norman, Nicole Lizée and Dani Howard.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season include a major European tour and season opening concerts with Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Emylanychev, performing MacMillan’s Veni Veni Emmanuel – a work Currie has performed more than 150 times. Elsewhere, concerto appearances include the world premiere of Double Concerto Memoirs by Erkki-Sven Tüür with Tamsin Waley-Cohen and United Strings of Europe; Aho’s Sieidi with Porto Symphony; Andriessen Tapdance and Wolfe Body Language with Belgian National Orchestra; the German premiere of Akiho’s Percussion Concerto with Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie; and concertos by Nicole Lizée and Danny Elfman with Vancouver Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic and Oregon Symphony Orchestras.

Currie’s conducting career began with the Colin Currie Group in performances of music by Steve Reich, and quickly grew into programmes exploring American minimalism and contemporary British composers. He has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble, Britten Sinfonia and São Paulo Symphony Music Academy, among others. This season Currie conducts the BBC Philharmonic, play/directs with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Belgian National Orchestra, and future plans include debuts with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and BBC Scottish Symphony.

Currie has been Artist in Association at London’s Southbank Centre and is currently Visiting Professor of Modern Ensembles at the Royal Academy of Music and Artistic Director of the Colin Currie Group.

Photo credit: Andy Catlin