The soloist of choice for composers from Reich to Rautavaara, Colin Currie has been the driving force behind new percussion repertoire for more than a decade. Acclaimed for his virtuosity and musical integrity, Currie is a solo and chamber artist at the peak of his powers. Championing new music at the highest level, Currie is soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, such as the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra and London Philharmonic.

Currie’s “athletic percussionism, compulsive showmanship and deep musicality” (The Guardian) has inspired composers from around the globe, and forthcoming commissions include new works written for Currie by Steve Reich, James MacMillan and Louis Andriessen. From his earliest years Currie forged a pioneering path in creating new music for percussion. He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award in 2000 for his inspirational role in contemporary music-making, and recent projects include premieres by composers such as Simon Holt, Kurt Schwertsik, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Jennifer Higdon, Alexander Goehr, and most recently Elliott Carter, whose double concerto Conversations Currie premiered with Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Aldeburgh Festival in June 2011, conducted by Oliver Knussen.

Currie is Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre from the 2011/12 season onwards, a role which will allow Currie to develop new relationships with artists and ensembles across a variety of art forms, as well as take part in collaborative and educational projects. The residency also involves several major commission projects in future seasons including the world premiere of Kalevi Aho’s Percussion Concerto which Colin performs in April 2012 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä. Currie’s other world premiere performances of this season include with the New York Philharmonic under David Robertson in the extended version of Elliott Carter’s double concerto Two Controversies and a Conversation, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel in a new work by Joseph Pereira, Sally Beamish’s percussion concerto Dance Variations with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra followed by performances with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and at Stanford Lively Arts in California, and Askell Masson’s Percussion Concerto with the Turku Philharmonic.

Concerto highlights this season include HK Gruber’s Rough Music at the NYYD Festival Tallinn conducted by the composer, Higdon’s Percussion Concerto conducted by Marin Alsop with the Baltimore Symphony in a subscription week followed by a tour of the USA’s West Coast, marimba concerti by Schwertsik and Hartl with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and performances of Rautavaara’s percussion concerto Incantations with the Houston Symphony under John Storgårds and the RTÉ National Symphony with Hannu Lintu. 

Elsewhere, Currie returns to the Utah Symphony with Thierry Fischer and makes his debut in Madrid with the RTVÉ Symphony Orchestra. Further to his highly successful debut performance in 2010, Currie returns to the 2012 Grand Teton Festival to perform MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, conducted by James Gaffigan.

Currie’s dynamic percussion ensemble The Colin Currie Group continues to receive critical acclaim for its performances of Steve Reich’s iconic work Drumming, following sell-out performances throughout the UK including at London’s Southbank Centre, Sound Festival Aberdeen, Bristol Colston Hall, Birmingham Town Hall and the 2011 Cheltenham Festival. Other recital projects include a new duo recital with trumpeter Hakan Hardenberger, which premiered in Aldeburgh, Hannover and the Far East including new commissions by Lucas Ligeti, Christian Muthspiel and Tobias Broström.

Currie’s recording of Rautavaara’s Incantations with the Helsinki Philharmonic under John Storgårds is released in Sping 2012 on the Ondine label. Previous CD releases by Currie include Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto conducted by Marin Alsop with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, a disc which won a 2010 Grammy Award, and Currie’s recital disc Borrowed Time, which features music by British composer Dave Maric and is available on the Onyx label. Click here to view Colin Currie's website.

Colin Currie is represented by Intermusica.
Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.

2011/12 season. We update our biographies regularly. Please contact us if this biography is out of date.

• Concerto Repertoire
• Conductors
• Solo Recital
• Family concerts, Education and outreach events
• Steve Reich Drumming
• Duo recital with Hakan Hardenberger
• String Quartet and Percussion
• Duo recital with Nicholas Hodges
• Duo recital with Huw Watkins – new collaboration
• Other collaborations

Concerto Repertoire

Highlights include concerti by James MacMillan, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Jennifer Higdon, Simon Holt, HK Gruber, Kurt Schwertsik and Christopher Rouse. Click here for audio, video, press materials and further information on these works.

* possible for chamber orchestra 
+ work written for Colin Currie

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Conductor relationships

David Robertson, Marin Alsop, John Storgårds, Hannu Lintu, Dougie Boyd, Donald Runnicles, Osmo Vänskä, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, James Gaffigan, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Thierry Fischer, Gustavo Dudamel, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Oliver Knussen, Leonard Slatkin, Alexander Shelley, HK Gruber, Christoph Eschenbach, Steven Sloane, Joseph Swensen, Petri Sakari, Martyn Brabbins, Giancarlo Guerrero, James MacMillan, Kwame Ryan, Carlos Kalmar, Baldur Brönnimann, Andre de Ridder, Bramwell Tovey, Thomas Søndergård, Robert Spano, Tan Dun, Andrey Boreyko.

Solo Recital

Colin Currie’s solo recitals are dramatic and exciting events, full of fascinating music and performed on a huge array of percussion instruments. Colin will often introduce the works in a relaxed and informative way through the course of the programme. Highlights of his solo recital performances include at the Lucerne Festival, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus etc.

Louis Andriessen Woodpecker
Dave Maric Sense and Innocence
Per Norgaard 'Fire over Water' from I Ching
Steve Reich Nagoya Marimbas
interval
Iannis Xenakis Rebonds B
Steven Mackey See Yah Thursday
Dave Maric Trilogy

“Colin Currie is a musician first and a percussionist second…The instruments were played with a wonderful range of touch….A marvellous concert which got the South Bank Centre’s Rhythm Sticks festival off to a flying start”
The Telegraph, July 2002

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Family concerts, Education and outreach events

Currie is actively involved in education work, as Visiting Professor of Percussion at London’s Royal Academy of Music and at the Royal Conservatoire in the Hague. He regularly leads master classes, workshops and family concerts as stand alone events or connected to engagements, and is happy to take part in talks or other events.

Family concert programme
His solo family concerts are designed to introduce percussion to a young audience in a fun and engaging way, with on-stage participation and audience involvement throughout. The mixed programme has music from around the world including works influenced by Africa, Brazil, Japan and Indonesia:

Matthias Schmitt Ghanaia
Steve Reich Nagoya Marimbas
Per Norgaard 'Fire over Water' from I Ching
Steve Reich Clapping Music
Dave Maric Trilogy (Tamboo)

“The festival billed the event as a family concert in the mid-afternoon, and attracted a huge audience that included family groups and youngsters of every age. Was this audience intimidated or put off by the uncompromising music they faced? No way. Currie, completely unfazed by what must have been his youngest- ever audience turned the situation to his advantage, inviting groups of kids onto the floor to lay into his battery of drums by way of an introduction to the music of Per Norgard.”
Glasgow Herald reviews family concert at St Magnus Festival, June 2002

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Steve Reich Drumming

The Colin Currie Group was formed to perform Steve Reich’s iconic Drumming, a work which has built a huge following with audiences around the world. Colin Currie leads this dynamic group of virtuoso young percussionists combined with Synergy Vocals. The group first performed at the BBC Proms and have recently given sell-out performances in London, Birmingham and Perth, and will tour more widely in 2011 and beyond.

Click here to watch a short film of The Colin Currie Group performing Steve Reich's Drumming.

“Held together by eye contact, ear contact, intimate understanding of the score and collective breathing, the performance was both aurally and visually exciting – a work of art and also one of craft at its most disciplined and alert.”
The Independent, February 2010

“This was a mesmerizing performance from the Colin Currie Group, which was highly appreciated by the Queen Elizabeth Hall’s capacity audience”
Seen & Heard International, February 2010

“On Saturday night a new generation of musicians resurrected Drumming and brought it to Perth for a wholly different -and staggering -musical experience... Colin Currie put together an elite team of top UK percussionists and led them in a stunning, dramatic version of Drumming... young, fit, lean, fantastically musical and mind-bogglingly virtuosic. In their hands, Drumming was a continuum in four parts. This had direction, powering through the multi-bongo first section, beguiling the senses with the marimba marathon of the second, piercing the brain with the golden rainburst of glockenspiels in the third and culminating in an apocalyptic fourth section with everybody piling in.”
Glasgow Herald, April 2008

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Duo recital with Hakan Hardenberger

Colin Currie and Håkan Hardenberger’s outstanding duo collaboration connects two artists with a passion for dynamic new music and for performance at the highest level. Their charismatic stage presence displays a visible enjoyment of the music, matched by virtuosity and drama in equal measure. The relationship has already given birth to several specially commissioned new works.

Performances include at the Verbier Festival, London’s LSO St Lukes, San Francisco, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, Hamburg Musikhalle, Hannover, Bruges and Birmingham.

Click here to watch Currie in recital with Hakan Hardenberger.

Programme for the 2010/11 season:
Joe Duddell Catch
Christian Muthspiel new duo work
Lukas Ligeti Tangle
*****
Tobias Broström new duo work
Louis Andriessen Woodpecker (solo percussion)
André Jolivet Heptade
Encore: Charlie Parker Donna Lee (arr. Rolf Martinsson)

“A breathtaking performance… Both players exhibited stunning virtuosity, though always at the service of musical effect, never for its own sake… These players had absolute command over their instruments. There was no gap between what they wanted to express and what they were technically capable of expressing.”
San Francisco Classical Voice, January 2008

“Hardenberger's style, generating tremendous emotions out of stillness, is the perfect dramatic foil for Currie's overt dynamism. The percussion layout resembled an altar, turning Currie into the celebrant of some arcane ritual; he goaded Hardenberger into a series of stylised responses, by turns ululating and ecstatic. Enthralling stuff, every second of it.”
The Guardian, February 2007

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String Quartet and Percussion

Colin Currie regularly performs with the Pavel Haas Quartet in a programme including Pavel Haas String Quartet No.2, a new work by Alexander Goehr and a commission for 11/12; performances at the City of London Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Prague Festival and BBC Proms.

Duo recital with Nicholas Hodges

Programme Includes Birtwistle The Axe Manual, Stockhausen Kontakte and Joe Duddell Parallel Lines – performances have included at Settembre Musica festival in Turin and Milan, and at the BBC Proms and the Wigmore Hall.

BBC Proms / Stockhausen Kontakte
“More striking was the 1960 work Kontakte, in which two virtuosos - the pianist Nicolas Hodges and the percussionist Colin Currie - provided a heroic live counterpoint to a cataclysmic recording. The spectacle of both players striding purposefully across the platform to thwack two huge gongs in perfect synchronicity with the electronic blitz has to be one of this Proms season's great moments.”
The Times, August 2008

“Another pioneering work, Kontakte, from 1961, in which electronic sounds are set against piano and percussion, was superbly delivered by Nicolas Hodges and Colin Currie…”
The Guardian, August 2008

“… it was the intricacy of Kontakte that pianist Nicolas Hodges, percussionist Colin Currie and sound projectionist Bryan Wolf revealed in their finely realised account.”
Independent on Sunday, August 2008

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Duo recital with Huw Watkins – new collaboration

Colin Currie forms a new duo with composer-pianist Huw Watkins, featuring a programme of music from the post-war avant-garde to the present day, including a new commission by Watkins.

Philippe Hurel Tombeau (piano and percussion duo)
Bruno Mantovani Moi, jeu (solo percussion)
Thomas Adès Mazurkas (solo piano)
Interval
Huw Watkins New work for piano and percussion – to be commissioned
Iannis Xenakis Komboi (harpsichord and percussion duo)

Other collaborations

Hebrides Ensemble: Colin Currie performs as guest with the Hebrides Ensemble during the 2010/11 season, in a mixed chamber programme:

Alexander Goehr Since Brass, nor Stone
Harrison Birtwistle The Axe Manual
interval
Peter Maxwell Davies Vesalii Icones

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Jennifer Higdon	Percussion Concerto (European première performance / Première recording) Colin Currie, percussion London Philharmonic Orchestra Marin Alsop, conductor	LPO - 0035 Grammy Award winner
Dave Maric	Borrowed Time Music for solo percussion by Dave Maric, with works for: Solo percussion; Percussion and electronics; Percussion and piano – with Dave Maric, piano; Percussion and trumpet – with Hakan Hardenberger; Percussion duo – with Sam Walton; Percussion and organ – with Clive Driskell-Smith.	Onyx ONYX4024
Pavel Haas	String Quartet No.2, Op.7 'From the Monkey Mountains' Colin Currie, percussion Pavel Haas Quartet	Supraphon SU38772
James MacMillan	Veni, Veni Emmanuel (percussion concerto) Colin Currie, percussion Ulster Orchestra Takuo Yuasa, conductor	Naxos 8.554167
Michael Torke	Rapture (percussion concerto) Colin Currie, percussion Royal Scottish National Orchestra Marin Alsop, conductor	Naxos 8.559167
Various composers	Viktoria Mullova: Through the Looking Glass Viktoria Mullova, violin Matthew Barley, cello Julian Joseph, piano Steve Smith, guitar Colin Currie, percussion Paul Clarvis, percussion Sam Walton, percussion Including works by George Harrison, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Duke Ellington, Bee Gees, Weather Report, Youssou N’Dour, arr. Matthew Barley	Philips 464 184-2
Various composers	LAGQ Spin Colin Currie, percussion Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Includes works by Joe Duddell, Steven Mackey, William Kanengiser, Andrew York	Telarc-CD-80647
Various composers	Striking a Balance: Contemporary Percussion Music Solo recital disc Includes works by Chick Corea, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Maurice Ravel, Ney Rosauro, Alan Emslie, Markus Halt, J.S. Bach, Steve Reich, Richard Michael Colin Currie, percussion Sam Walton, marimba Robin Michael, piano	EMI Debut CDZ 5 72267 2
George Tsontakis	Mirologhia Colin Currie, percussion Albany Symphony Orchestra David Allen Miller, conductor	Koch International Cl B001EQP9XW

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World Premiere of Elliott Carter’s Conversations with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and BCMG, conducted by Oliver Knussen at the Aldeburgh Festival

“It's a beautifully engineered series of encounters between the piano (played by Pierre-Laurent Aimard) and the array of percussion (Colin Currie), who match and swap registers and sound worlds. The ensemble supplies terse punctuation until, in a brief, dazzling climax, it too gets swept into the soloists' figuration, before the piece ends with a last metallic aside.”
The Guardian, 27 June 2011

“This afternoon I heard a new double concerto for piano and percussion whose mixture of mathematical complexity and bouncy joie de vivre took the breath away... Currie describes the work as “one of the most significant additions to our chamber repertoire since the Bartok Sonata of 1938″. He’s right: this is a magical score. The work lasts only seven minutes, during which the piano and marimba send out showers of perfectly synchronised arpeggios, interspersed with metrical games that draw in the brass, strings, drums, gong and vibraphone. Knussen very sensibly conducted it twice, and the second time around every bar yielded little felicities of scoring that I’d missed the first time.”
Daily Telegraph Blogs, 26 June 2011

“Scored for solo piano and percussion with Mozart-size orchestra, it makes a pungent statement. Conversations is a witty dialogue between solo instruments with much in common – the piano, after all, has percussive qualities – but represent different viewpoints about sound. In Carter’s scenario, the piano sets the pace and has the best music, but the percussion commands a wider palette and seems more exuberant, often putting the piano in the shade. When marimba or vibraphone calls the tune, the conversation sounds harmonious. When gongs or drums take their turn, the soloists seem at odds. As in any civilised argument, they refrain from interrupting each other. The piece reaches a humorous, single-note conclusion – and Carter pulls off another of his succinct musical metaphors for social interchange. Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Colin Currie were spirited soloists with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group under Oliver Knussen.”
Financial Times, 28 June 2011

“The music’s splintered sound felt like pure thought in motion. As did the brand-new double concerto Conversations from the 102-year-old Elliott Carter, in which percussionist Colin Currie and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard tossed musical shapes at each other like netball players. No doubt about it; it was the old masters who seemed truly young.
The Telegraph, 28 June 2011

“The piece is more about response and reaction — everywhere quick, brittle, witty — than about solo virtuosity. And its writing challenged the [orchestra] as much as the soloists in its mercurial impulses and ricocheting resonances.”
The Times, 29 June 2011

“Music of an amazingly energetic bent... Conversations for piano and percussion reveals a composer who, at least in musical thought, hasn't slowed down one bit. From the off, fantastically industrious ideas are summoned up (a tone row boogie-woogie from Pierre-Laurent Aimard's piano, syncopated responses from Colin Currie's marimba) and hurtle uncontainably around the stage like three-year-olds around a kitchen table.”
The Arts Desk, 27 June 2011

Duo recital with Hakan Hardenberger for Pro Musica Hannover
“Publikumfavorit wurde allerdings ein Schlagzeugsolo: „Woodpecker“ von Louis Andriessen ist in der Tat ein wunderbares Stück, treibend und humorvoll. Currie bewältigte nicht nur souverän die beträchtlichen technischen Schwierigkeiten der Komposition, sondern wusste auch ohne Schwächemomente den notwendigen Puls zu halten." “The audience favourite, however was the percussion solo: “Woodpecker” by Louis Andriessen, is indeed a wonderful piece, with drive and humour. Not only did Currie supremely conquer the considerable technical difficulties of the composition, but he knew how to hold the pulse without any moment of weakness.”
Cellesche Zeitung, 18 April 2011

“Colin Currie bewegt sich virtuos auf seinen zahlreichen Instrumenten. Schon dass er sich in seinem Instrumentarium nicht verirrt, nötigt Respekt ab. Das perfekte Zusammenspiel, das gegenseitige Zuhören und Aufeinander-Eingehen, faszinierte.”

“Colin Currie was a master of virtuosity with his numerous instruments. The fact he never got lost between all his instruments deserves our respect. The perfect interaction, the mutual listening and the understanding was fascinating. The enthusiastic public wanted more.”
Neue Presse, 18 April 2011

“Der Trompeter Håkan Hardenberger und der Schlagzeuger Colin Currie begeistern beim Pro-Musica-Konzert. Nein, das war ganz und gar nicht alltäglich. So spannend und entspannend zugleich kann neuere Musik sein!”

“The trumpet player Håkan Hardenberger and the percussionist Colin Currie delighted the audience at the Pro Musica concert. No, this was not at all an everyday event. Who would have thought that contemporary music could be so thrilling yet relaxing at the same time!”
Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 18 April 2011

Leads the Colin Currie Group in a performance of Steve Reich’s Drumming at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall
“Watching the Colin Currie Group performing Reich's early-Seventies landmark work Drumming, one is struck by the intense levels of concentration required to bring the 70-minute piece successfully through its various stages. Currie's 12-piece ensemble is exceptionally focused, and the result holds the audience rapt throughout its duration.... The transitions between sections are seamlessly effected throughout, with particular attention paid to the bongos, which might easily overpower the more delicate tones. Ultimately, all the different elements are reintroduced in the collective fourth section, where the apparent contradictions between the skin, wood and metal timbres are magically dissolved in a joyous, propulsive finale that suddenly comes to a shockingly abrupt halt in perfect unison.”
The Independent, five stars, April 2011

Performs with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in Rautavaara’s percussion concerto Incantations
“...the soloist's spellbinding entrance -- a rush of marimba figuration, its intensity echoed by similar patterns on tuned drums and cymbals. Currie shifted deftly behind the array, sometimes producing four mallets where two had been a moment before, hammering out dissonant staccato chords, asserting shamanic authority...yes, the spirits do come when Rautavaara, through an adroit interpreter like Currie, calls for them.”
Indystar, March 2011

Performs at the Alte Oper Frankfurt in HK Gruber’s Rough Music with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and Andrés Orozco-Estrada
„Der Wiener HK Gruber spielt in den «Rauen Tönen» das nächtlich-lärmige Gespenstertreiben durch, mit dem man auf dem Lande schon im Mittelalter missliebige Mitbewohner erschreckte. Das Arsenal dieses Stückes für Percussion ist gewaltig, hier in vier Gruppen aufgebaut. So etwas stellt riesige Anforderungen an den Schlagzeuger, der zudem mit dem Orchester einig gehen muss. Der Schotte Colin Currie löste diese vielfarbige, vielrhythmische Aufgabe glänzend. Selbst leichte Walzerseligkeit wurde schneidend konterkariert. In diesem Hexenkessel blieb dem Publikum schier der Atem weg.”

“The Viennese HK Gruber portrays the noisy, nocturnal, ghostly goings-on in “Rough Music”, a method used in the countryside in medieval times to scare unpopular residents. The instrumental set-up for this piece for percussion is enormous, arranged on stage in four groups. Something like this is incredibly demanding for the percussion soloist, who also has to synchronise perfectly with the orchestra. Scotsman Colin Currie solved this multicoloured, multi-rhythmic task brilliantly. Even simple waltz-phrases were edgily performed. This witch’s cauldron took the audience’s breath away.”
Frankfurter Neue Presse, January 2011

„Der schottische Perkussionist Colin Currie bewegte sich katzengewandt von einem Schlagzeugset zum andern, brachte Marimba, Vibrafon, Trommeln, Becken, Glocken und Pauken in raschem Wechsel zum rhythmischen Einsatz. Zwischen Kitsch und Krach, ätherischen und brutalen Klängen pendelt diese Musik, die sich als effektvolles Spektakel erweist, das im letzten Satz gar mit Walzerzitaten aufwartet, bevor es mit einem donnernden Wirbel auf der großen Trommel endet. Tadellos funktionierte dank des umsichtigen Dirigenten die Koordination von Solist und Orchester.“

“Colin Currie moved like a cat from one set of drums to another as he changed rapidly between marimba, vibraphone, cymbals, bells and timpani. This music, which proved an effective spectacle, fluctuated between kitsch and noise, ethereal and brutal sounds. In the last movement the music even quoted a waltz, before it ended with a thundering roll on the bass drum. The coordination of soloist and orchestra was impeccable, especially thanks to the prudent conductor.”
Echo Online, January 2011

Performing with Martha Argerich and Stephen Kovacevich at the Wigmore Hall
“...a performance of Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion that combined grandeur, decorative grace and bounding energy, all in a spirit of relaxed enjoyment.”
Daily Telegraph, October 2010

Performing MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel and Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto on tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Alexander Shelley
“The Edinburgh-born soloist makes a big impression with his astonishing musicality...centred around his love for marimba, [Higdon’s Percussion Concerto] had him front-of-stage with marimba, percussion and drum kit, and moving around the instruments. The piece included wafting marimba, bowed sounds, and full tilt drum kit solos, a la rock bands...[Currie’s] cadenza was vibrant and there was particular interest in the dialogue and interplay, like echoes and “duels” between the soloist and the orchestral percussion players.”
Capital Times, Wellington, September 2010

“With an array of instruments ranged across the front of the stage Currie was a one-man orchestra racing around his various noise-producing instruments.”
National Business Review, September 2010

“Colin Currie is as good as his reputation and the whole thing was spectacular.”
The Dominion Post, September 2010

“A percussionist is not the usual soloist with the NZSO, but the slimly build and intensely fit Colin Currie impressed in this role, matching his reputation as a phenomenally gifted player who is turbo-charged...He was certainly active across the front of the stage in his performance of James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, swiftly changing between groups of sonorous gongs and tuned percussion on one side, to timpani, cymbals and drums on the other, with plenty more between, and finally to the ethereal finish on the tubular bells high at the back of the stage. His playing of a bewildering array of instruments provided a fascinating visual as well as auditory experience for a rapt audience.”
Hawkes Bay Today, September 2010

“Colin Currie, that cool master of the mallets, headlined the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s two Soundscapes concerts. The Scottish percussionist was just as spry dashing from instrument to instrument as he was on his last visit, but this time he brought more substantial repertoire. James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel is an established modern-day classic. Its appeal lies in its sincerely expressed spiritual theme and, for those who know their plainsong, MacMillan’s clever twisting of an old chant. Restless, vibrant textures showcased Currie’s virtuosity while a more poetic aspect was revealed in a shimmering marimba cadenza against sotto voce strings.”
Capital Times, September 2010

“The soloist in both concerts was balletic Scottish percussionist Colin Currie, who was as exciting to watch as he was to listen to.”
The Listener, September 2010

Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto with Marin Alsop at the 2010 Cabrillo Festival
“More impressive was Higdon’s 2005 Percussion Concerto, written for the phenomenal Colin Currie and displaying his talent for drawing a wide spectrum of sounds from intractable instruments: in his hands, the marimba coos and a drum set thunders."
Financial Times USA, August 2010

“[Higdon’s] Percussion Concerto’s soloist was the astonishing Colin Currie, who worked three different batteries of at least a dozen instruments and as many sticks and mallets.”
Santa Cruz weekly, August 2010

“Percussionist Colin Currie blazed brilliantly through Higdon’s high-energy 2005 Percussion Concerto”
Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 2010

“Currie’s performance, ranging from nuanced to aggressive (and roaming all over the stage), was terrific”
San Francisco Classical Voice, August 2010

At the BBC Proms in Simon Holt’s percussion concerto a table of noises with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Thierry Fischer
“The work, arranged in six main sections interspersed with cadenza-like passages, is complex in structure and must be the very devil for even a soloist of Currie's ability. In fact, he performed it with an authority that left mere virtuosity behind and turned everything into musical expression.”
The Guardian, July 2010

“What mattered was the series of enchanted musical worlds which Currie created, with taut, terse, high-pitched pings and pocks from wood, skin, and metal. The slimmed-down orchestra consisted of woodwind, brass, harp, strings, and xylophones, with which Currie’s own xylophone created celestial harmonies; at some moments we might have been in a Japanese Noh theatre.”
The Independent, July 2010

“It needs a performance of blazing precision and nervous tension – which is exactly what it got. Soloist Colin Currie was a miracle of cool-headed brilliance, flitting between xylophone and his taxidermist’s table of instruments with total aplomb.”
The Telegraph, July 2010

“As the piece opened, Currie measured out a rhythmic figure that, with the help of two strident piccolos, became the seed of a firm melodic idea. Sometimes Currie established possibilities that the ensemble developed around him; sometimes he followed, but the music’s inexorable forward motion and delight in unexpected sonorities were always clear. At no point was he called upon to batter the orchestra into submission; instead, he took his place before a different percussive option for each movement, now building up broken funk rhythms, now creating subtle undercurrents. Between each of the movements came a series of what Holt calls “ghosts”, passages during which Currie remained silent. Quietly intense, they emphasised how far from the conventional percussion concerto Holt had come.”
Evening Standard, July 2010

World premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s percussion concerto Incantations with the London Philharmonic Orchestra & Yannick Nézet-Séguin
“Einojuhani Rautavaara's Incantations, a concerto for percussion and orchestra, manages to be both intensely innovative and highly conventional. Rautavaara's concerto is dominated by a resplendent opening orchestral fanfare, which returns at the work's close. The solo part is not, as one had feared, a massive crash-bang-wallop drum extravaganza, but a delicate and luminous invention of great expressiveness, with the marimba and vibraphone carrying much of the solo writing. Colin Currie's athletic playing was as dazzling and persuasive as the work itself.”
The Guardian, October 2009

“Incantations was written for, and in consultation with, Colin Currie, who gave a dedicated performance, complete with virtuoso cadenza of his own making.”
The Times, October 2009

At Carnegie Hall in the premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach
“The performance elicited a cheering ovation for the extraordinary percussion soloist, Colin Currie, and for the composer. Once the first section really takes off, the music is nonstop in its energy. There are frenzied outbursts and flourishes for the soloist on the marimba, vibraphone, blocks and drum sets. The concerto certainly provided a vehicle for the brilliant Mr. Currie, a limber, young virtuoso born in Edinburgh…. The jazzy and vehement cadenza, played on the drum set, gave Mr. Currie his Max Roach moment."
New York Times, December 2006

UK premiere of Higdon’s Percussion Concerto with the London Philharmonic and Marin Alsop
“Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto is a brilliantly crafted, brilliantly theatrical, display piece for its splendid dedicatee, the British percussion soloist Colin Currie. Progressing from throbbing marimba through clattering woodblocks to a drum kit from hell, Currie always found beauty in precision. Elegance too.”
The Times, December 2007

World premiere of Simon Holt’s concerto a table of noises with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Martyn Brabbins
“Currie’s virtuosic performance confirmed that the percussion repertory has been enriched. Brittle, unsettling and full of bite."
The Sunday Telegraph, May 2008

Duo recital with Hakan Hardenberger at LSO St Luke’s
“Currie attacked a sequence of fiendish solos, including Per Norgaard's Fire Over Water and Louis Andriessen's Woodpecker - the former joyously cacophonous, the latter more subdued, albeit fiendish in its rhythmic complexity. A solo percussionist is, of necessity, a musical athlete, and the brilliance of Currie's playing is inseparable from the thrill of watching him perform acts of tremendous dexterity that seemingly draw on endless reserves of stamina. Enthralling stuff, every second of it.”
The Guardian, February 2007

Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse & John Storgårds in Rouse Die Gerettete Alberich
“The American composer Christopher Rouse’s fantasy for percussion and orchestra, Der gerettete Alberich, provided the opportunity of discovering Colin Currie, a tremendous virtuoso. Installed in front of the orchestra amongst an impressive ensemble of percussion instruments, he roused the enthusiasm of the audience by his fantastic mastery of tone and rhythm.”
La Dépêche du Midi, May 2009

With the Los Angeles Philharmonic & Leonard Slatkin performing Rouse Die Gerettete Alberich
"The orchestra plays around with themes from the "Ring," while Alberich simply plays around. The character is delusional as ever. He thinks he's a pop star, so Currie, at one point, hopped on a set of traps. A wide array of instruments presents the wily little guy in an assortment of disguises. His visions of grandeur, while amusing, are not without their edge. Currie's magnificent performance of the delirious cadenza was both thrilling and a bit nerve-racking."
Los Angeles Times, August 2008

At the BBC Proms
“Last night, a great cheer went up for the charismatic Colin Currie, who is such an inspirational catalyst when it comes to contemporary percussion music. This concerto by Duddell looked much more difficult to play than it was to listen to, but Currie’s athleticism and musicianship were fully equal to it.”
The Daily Telegraph, July 2003

Performing with the New World Symphony and Marin Alsop
“British percussionist Colin Currie was a bold force of nature. Currie's dazzling feats of rhythm, speed, and dexterity were riveting. In an episode that mixed marimba with woodwinds, he produced streams of mellifluous timbres.”
The Miami Herald, April 2006

Currie performing MacMillan’s Veni, Veni Emmanuel
“MacMillan’s dramatic tour de force for percussion soloist and orchestra Veni, Veni, Emmanuel has become a best-seller in the concert hall, and there simply isn’t a better exponent than the charismatic Colin Currie.”
BBC Music Magazine, August 2007

“A showstopping performance from the percussion virtuoso Colin Currie. I’d never thought that drums could be so lyrical.”
The Daily Telegraph, January 2005

“Colin Currie’s account of the solo part was a tour de force…”
The Evening Standard, January 2005

“The score that fully gripped the imagination was the familiar, glamorous Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, with MacMillan conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Colin Currie the charismatic, athletic percussionist.”
The Guardian, January 2005

These are featured projects related to Colin Currie:

Drumming
The Colin Currie Group: Steve Reich's Drumming » Introduction » Film and Audio » Press Quotes » Financial Times feature » Programme feature » Links INTRODUCTION Steve Reich's Drumming is one of the most iconic masterpieces of its time. Inspired by Reich's percussion studies in Ghana in 1971, it is a theatrical and captivating showcase for percussion, offering...

Concerto Repertoire Highlights
Concerto Repertoire Highlights HK Gruber Rough Music Jennifer Higdon Percussion Concerto Simon Holt a table of noises James MacMillan Veni, Veni Emmanuel Einojuhani Rautavaara Incantations Christopher Rouse Der Gerettete Alberich Kurt Schwertsik Now you hear me, now you don't HK Gruber Rough Music Colin Currie performed the US premiere of Rough Music in 2008, with the Saint Louis...

Financial Times feature
Percussionists move into the limelight In-depth feature in the Financial Times covering Colin Currie’s performance of Steve Reich’s Drumming at the Southbank centre in February 2010 Financial Times, 5 February 2010 By Laura Battle You could call it a big bang theory. For centuries, percussionists laboured at the back of ensembles, adding rhythmical texture or climactic flourish to instrumental works but, more often than not, silently...

Premieres: Alexander Goehr
Pavel Haas Quartet and Colin Currie perform a world premiere, Alexander Goehr's Since Brass nor Stone... Fantasia for string quartet and percussion Op.80 Pavel Haas Quartet Colin Currie: percussion Thursday 10 July 2008 St Andrew's Church, Holborn Programme:  Peter Maxwell Davies A Sad Paven for these Distracted Tymes Alexander Goehr Since Brass nor Stone... Fantasia for string quartet and percussion Op.8 (World première)...