Percussion

Colin Currie is as solo and chamber artist at the peak of his powers. Championing new
music at the highest level, he is 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 he performs with the world’s leading
orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Royal
Stockholm Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and Minnesota Orchestras.

A dynamic and adventurous soloist, Currie’s commitment to commissioning and
creating new music was recognised in 2015 by the Royal Philharmonic Society who
awarded him the Instrumentalist Award. From his earliest years Currie forged a
pioneering path in creating new music for percussion, winning the Royal Philharmonic
Society Young Artist Award in 2000 and receiving a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in
2005. Currie has premiered works by composers such as Steve Reich, Elliott Carter,
Louis Andriessen, HK Gruber, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Sir James MacMillan, Brett
Dean, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Helen Grime, Jennifer Higdon,
Kalevi Aho, Andy Akiho, Rolf Wallin, Kurt Schwertsik, Andrew Norman, Julia Wolfe
and Nico Muhly. Looking ahead, this season Currie will premiere new works by Bruno
Mantovani, Danny Elfman, and Steve Reich.

In October 2017 Currie launched Colin Currie Records, in conjunction with LSO Live,
as a platform for recording his diverse projects, celebrating the extraordinary
developments for percussion music in recent times. Since the label’s first release, the
Colin Currie Group’s debut recording of Steve Reich’s Drumming, hailed as
“thunderously exciting” (The Times), Currie has released 3 further discs in the
catalogue; The Scene of The Crime, with Håkan Hardenberger; Colin Currie & Steve
Reich Live at Fondation Louis Vuitton, once again featuring the Colin Currie Group;
and most recently, HK Gruber Percussion Concertos, with the BBC Philharmonic,
Juanjo Mena and John Storgårds.

The major highlight of Currie’s 2021/22 season is the world premiere of a significant
new work by Steve Reich, Traveler’s Prayer, written for the Colin Currie Group.
Throughout October and November 2021 the Colin Currie Group tour the premiere
performances to The Concertgebouw, Royal Festival Hall, Elbphilharmonie and
Philharmonie de Paris with subsequent co-commissioned premieres to follow at Tokyo
Opera City, Carnegie Hall and CAL Performances.

Currie’s dynamic ensemble the Colin Currie Group was formed 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 ensemble have taken on the role of
ambassadors of Drumming, which they have performed at many venues and festivals
internationally.

Other highlights of Currie’s season include the world premiere of Bruno Mantovani’s
Percussion Concerto, Allegro Barbaro, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio
France, and the world premiere of Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto with the
London Philarmonic Orchestra, followed by the US premiere with Pacific Symphony.
Currie also performs widely in chamber performances across the season with the
Colin Currie Quartet, Antoine Tamestit, Håkan Hardenberger and the musicians of
Västerås Sinfonietta.

Currie is Artist in Association at London’s Southbank Centre, where he was the focus
of a major percussion festival Metal Wood Skin in 2014 and continues to perform there
every season.

Colin Currie plays Zildjian cymbals and is a Marimba One Artist.