© GAIDA Festival 2020
This photo is was taken at GAIDA Festival 2020, in Vilnius, Lithuania. One of my ‘happy places’ in a year that certainly had its ragged moments. Happy (the fellow to my left grinning from ear-to-ear is Sam Walton, my oldest percussion buddy!) and I would say relieved, as is palpable in this image. The few chances that I have had to connect with an audience this year have been a great honour and a chance to redouble the commitment to making people’s lives more significant, more thought-provoking and more adventurous via music.
2020 started strongly enough – in January I performed my beloved ‘Switch’ by Andrew Norman at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and relished no less than 12 hours of recording sessions for BIS to put the mighty ‘Sieidi’ by Kalevi Aho onto disc. I played Helen Grime's concerto in its Scandinavian Premiere, the first of about a dozen scheduled performances of that work in this year – and then the malicious trickle that became a flow snuffed out the ensuing months of would-have-been concerts, collaboration, touring and premieres.
Never knowingly outfoxed, I kept the faith as best I could and as always had the most incredible, unerring support from my agency at Intermusica, who despite a torrid time for themselves never flinched in keeping my ship pointing forward. The BBC gave me my first concert in my new hometown of Glasgow (I relocated in November 2019!!!) and come the autumn, presenters I work with in Scandinavia, Finland, and Eastern Europe all clung bravely to the events that we had planned together.
And looking forward? I just want to walk into town and hear a concert. I want to go to a gig, the theatre, sit anonymously at a bar. As of course we all do - and will. Meanwhile, Colin Currie Records has, in fact, been frenziedly busy this autumn, and we will release a composer-focussed album in the spring…! Now who could it feature…? I wonderrrrrrrrrr!
Stay safe and let’s club together for a strong and exciting 2021.
Colin