Colin Currie joins Royal Liverpool Philharmonic for Elfman's Percussion Concerto

Colin Currie heads to Liverpool tomorrow to join the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for their concert ‘An American in Paris’. Conducted by JoAnn Falletta, Colin will perform Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto. The pair previously joined forces to record the piece for Sony Classical, which was released earlier this year, and will be signing their CDs following the performance.

Elfman wrote the Concerto specifically for Colin, praising him as “an extraordinary musician who would be great to collaborate with”, and the piece exploits his typically lush and cinematic style. “The audience were captivated by Colin Currie’s every move as he performed the piece. Darting across the stage between instruments, Currie is a true showman,” wrote Amy Melling (Abundant Art) of the US premiere.

The exuberant piece uses an impressive arsenal of percussion instruments (the soloist alone plays 12 instruments in total, including pots and pans, and a metal ‘gizmo’), and showcases Elfman’s classic sound so familiar from his many award-winning film scores.

2024/25 season gets underway

Colin has kicked off a busy 2024/25 season with a visit to the Bratislava Music Festival in Slovakia. Alongside the English Chamber Orchestra, Colin performed Sir James MacMillan’s spellbinding Veni, Veni Emmanuel. He will return to this piece in November with the Manchester-based Hallé, and in fact will perform with the orchestra four times over the season, joining them for a three-day festival celebrating Philip Glass in February.

His next concert with be with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, performing Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto. Written for Colin in 2022, the piece proved popular with audiences on a US tour earlier this year.

As well as performing as a concerto soloist, Colin will appear twice with the Colin Currie Quartet this autumn. Pupils at Wells Cathedral School will have a unique opportunity to perform alongside the quartet in November, while audiences at Kings Place in December will hear two world premieres by Ben Nobuto and Anna Meredith.

Tickets for all the concerts are available now.

Colin Currie Group - Turnage New England Etudes (UK Premiere), Reich, Wallin, Wolfe at the Queen Elizabeth Hall

"A five-star percussive performance... Almost as much drama and tension came from seeing what was happening on stage as from the sounds... the sheer virtuosity of these musicians as they navigated the rhythmic and metric complexities of the demanding programme, often sporting wonderful expressions of pure concentration, had to be seen to be believed." *****
The Times, March 2024                                                                         

"Currie conducted the premiere; elsewhere he was very much one of the performers... It’s music that depends on immaculate precision, and like everything in the programme both pieces were played with almost casual virtuosity by Currie and his colleagues."
The Guardian, March 2024

Colin Currie joins English Chamber Orchestra at Bratislava Music Festival

Colin joins the English Chamber Orchestra this week at the Bratislava Music Festival, performing Sir James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni Emmanuel, conducted by Kaspar Zehnder.

The work is one of Colin’s most performed pieces, and uses a battery of percussion instruments including tam-tams, two snare drums, congas, timbales, gongs, woodblocks and marimba, producing a range of tuned, untuned, skin, metal and wood sounds. Praised by the Financial Times as “a sure, confident, expertly engineered piece of soloist-versus-orchestra showmanship”, the piece is based on the Advent plainchant of the same name and was described by its composer as “a musical exploration of the theology behind the Advent message”. Seen and Heard International described Colin’s previous performance of the piece as “utterly spellbinding”.

This was Colin’s first concert with the orchestra. The most recorded chamber music orchestra in the world, the English Chamber Orchestra works consistently with the most significant musical figures in classical music, and particularly champions British music. The Bratislava Music Festival was founded after the Second World War to celebrate Slovakia’s rich cultural history, and has grown to be one of the most prominent cultural events in Slovakia.

Colin Currie features in Grafenegg documentary

ORF Topos has released a documentary film about the Grafenegg Academy, in which Colin is interviewed. An initiative of the Grafenegg Festival, the Grafenegg Academy encourages young talent by giving aspiring performers and composers the opportunity to collaborate with renowned musicians, including playing together in the Grafenegg Academy Orchestra. Colin has mentored and performed at the Grafenegg Academy every year since 2020.

Colin at the Grafenegg Festival in 2024

New Release: Colin Currie appears on Bryce Dessner album Solos

Colin Currie has released a solo track as part of Bryce Dessner’s first album on Sony Classical, Solos, which features a collection of solo instrumental works composed by Dessner over the past years.

Colin’s contribution to Solos is a marimba work, Tromp Miniature, which Currie often performs in his solo recitals. In this recording, Colin blends virtuosity with deep expressive impact, delivering a touching and emotional performance of this beautifully crafted solo piece.

Dessner expressed his admiration for the guest soloists featured on the album, stating, 'Writing a solo piece for me is always a great challenge and joy, as you have all the personality and talent of the player plus the physicality and resonance of the solo instrument. Currie’s performance exemplifies this sentiment, showcasing his profound musicality and the rich, resonant qualities of his percussion instruments.'

Solos is available now on all major streaming platforms and physical formats.

Colin Currie returns to Grafenegg Academy for fifth season

This month, Colin returns to Grafenegg in Austria to join the artistic team of the festival’s Academy training scheme for early-career professional musicians. In his role as Guest Soloist and Featured Artist, he will perform alongside the young musicians as the soloist in the Austrian premiere of Andrew Norman’s percussion concerto Switch, and will also play a special late night chamber event featuring music by Andy Akiho, Steve Reich and Julia Wolfe.

The mission of the Grafenegg Academy is to think holistically and to approach the profession of young musicians from different perspectives and to reflect this during the residency. It is important to respond to the diversity of the career paths of modern musicians. This is highlighted in various concert formats - but above all in the work that happens during the residency within the context of diverse rehearsal work, various formats, workshops, lectures, and much more. Previously Artistic Curator of the Academy, this is the fifth time Colin has been involved in the Academy’s artistic team.

The Hallé's 2024-25 season features FOUR concerts with Colin Currie

Manchester-based orchestra The Hallé has announced its 2024-25 season, in which Colin will perform four times.

On 28 November and 1 December, Colin joins the orchestra and their dynamic new Principal Conductor Kahchun Wong to play the virtuosic solo part in Sir James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni Emmanuel. One of the most-performed percussion concertos in the repertoire, the one-movement piece is based on the Advent plainsong of the same name and dedicated to the composer’s parents. In his programme note, MacMillan explains: “On one level it is a purely abstract work in which all the musical material is drawn from the 15th century French Advent plainchant. On another level it is a musical exploration of the theology behind the Advent message”.

In February the orchestra presents a three-day celebration of the music of living legend, Philip Glass. One of the most influential composers alive today and among the first proponents of the minimalist movement, Glass’s music was described as “a viscous bath of pure, thick energy” by electronica pioneer Brian Eno. On 14 February, Colin conducts his iconic 1981 chamber piece Glassworks. Intending it to be – aptly, for the decade – ‘Walkman-suitable’, Glass released both an LP and a tape cassette of the piece. Each had its own separate mix: the LP was intended for home listening and the cassette – with a headphone-specific mix – was intended for personal tape players.

The following day, Colin leads the Hallé in Glass’ multimedia piece LIFE: A Journey Through Time. The visuals that accompany Glass’ shimmering music comes from the culmination of National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting’s six-year journey of photographic discovery that parallels new scientific insights about the evolution of life on Earth. The result is a lyrical interpretation of life on our planet, from its earliest beginnings to its present diversity. From prehistoric trilobites to giant tortoises, delicate jellies to spiny octopus trees, and from erupting volcanoes to shimmering coral reefs.

Tickets for all concerts are on sale now via the Hallé’s website.