Photo taken at the premiere of Helen Grime’s concerto at London’s Royal Festival Hall, January 2019
Three Concerto Premieres, debuts for Colin Currie Group in Shanghai and at the Edinburgh Festival & European Premiere of Steve Reich’s latest work Reich/Richter
Tempus Fugit and as one season concludes, another beckons! This time I usher in three new concerti from a diverse crop of outstanding composers. Bruno Mantovani has long captivated me with his richly glowing modernity, and I’m delighted to be premiering his new Percussion Concerto, written at my request. The World Premiere will be in Paris on April the 3rd 2020 with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Mikko Franck. I also continue my work with the Oregon Symphony with the new concerto by Andy Akiho, and my association with London’s Southbank Centre is peppered by an Artist Portrait programme (co-divised by myself and Unsuk Chin) with the Philharmonia Orchestra and a new concerto by Luke Bedford. Colin Currie Group also play Steve Reich’s Drumming in the Hayward Gallery (the scene of the work’s 1972 UK Premiere) and I give a recital with the JACK Quartet in the Purcell Room (which follows on from dates in the USA including New York’s 92nd Street Y and Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center).
At the request of the composer, I will with great honour be conducting the European Premiere of Steve Reich’s latest work Reich/Richter. These concerts mark my conducting debut with the Britten Sinfonia and we will play an all-Reich programme in London, Saffron Walden and Norwich. Other touring projects include my Birtwistle/Stockhausen combination with Nicolas Hodges which visits the Vienna Konzerthaus and Rotterdam’s DeDoelen. I also play new recital programmes with Huw Watkins (Wigmore Hall) and Antoine Tamestit (LSO St Luke’s).
Two of my big-hitting Premieres from recent seasons continue apace, with performances of Andrew Norman’s Switch in Mannheim and Leipzig, whilst Helen Grime’s concerto gets play in the USA, Sweden, Scotland and on tour in China. And in what is definitely the largest-scale project of the season (just count the tuned-gongs!) my ensemble makes its concertante debut, in a performance of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Glorious Percussion at the Edinburgh Festival, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. This will be shortly after our debut in China, where we will be performing Music for 18 Musicians and other works by Reich at the Shanghai Festival.
As always, stay tuned via the various channels (I am new on Instagram, for example!) and watch out for new recordings on my label Colin Currie Records.
Happy listening,
Colin