Colin Currie Quartet embarks on Scottish tour

The Colin Currie Quartet with composer Aileen Sweeney at the premiere of her Starburst in Glasgow

This week the Colin Currie Quartet embark on a recital tour around Scotland, supported by Chamber Music Scotland of which Colin Currie is Ambassador. The Quartet will perform at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Cumnock Tryst (in a concert marking the launch of the Festival’s 2024 programme), in Banchory with the Woodend Music Society and Aboyne Arts Group, in Castle Douglas with the Gatehouse Music Society, and in Biggar with Biggar Music. The Quartet will present programmes centred on works by Andy Akiho, Julia Wolfe, Dave Maric, Steve Reich, Kevin Volans, Rolf Wallin, and including the world premiere of a new work by Aileen Sweeney, Starburst.

The tour follows the Quartet’s performance at Wigmore Hall in February, where they unveiled a new programme that included the world premiere of Freya Waley-Cohen's Stone Fruit (specially written for the Quartet) and the London premiere of Amy Beth Kirsten’s may the devil take me.

“The CCQ – Currie himself, Owen Gunnell, Adrian Spillett and Sam Walton – is a phenomenal group… Sharing instruments, pairing off in rhythmical games, a floating sense of pulse, now a woody texture, now something metallic – and all at a ferocious pace – it was a sheer delight.”

— The Arts Desk

New Album: Danny Elfman's Percussion Concerto

Colin (right) recording at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall with conductor JoAnn Falletta and composer Danny Elfman

Following a successful US tour of Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto, Colin has released a recording of the piece for Sony Classical with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta. The full album will be released on Friday 17 May, but you can listen to the first single now.

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 album is completed by Elfman’s Wunderkammer, which he describes as a concerto for orchestra, and a short choral piece in French, ‘Are you lost?’, from Elfman’s song-cycle Trio.

The first movement from the concerto is available to stream now.

Colin Currie interviewed by Qobuz at Festival Présences 2024

Ahead of the this year’s Présences festival in Paris, Colin sat down with Qobuz streaming service for a chat about his love for the music of Steve Reich, what his label and ensemble have been up to, his vision for contemporary composition, and his cherished memories of being a soloist. This year’s Présences festival focused on Reich’s music, which has played a significant role in Colin’s performing and recording career.

Colin takes Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto on US tour

Over the next two weeks, Colin will perform Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto six times in three cities across America. He will be joined on-stage by conductors Christopher Dragon and David Danzmayr alongside local orchestras throughout the tour. 

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. Elfman has described percussion as “a lifelong obsession”, while with this piece he was excited to “really go back to my roots with wood and metal, mallets and sticks and hands, and to really let loose and have some fun with it. I also knew Colin was an extraordinary musician who would be great to collaborate with”. 

Of the concerto, Colin said: “It’s been a joy to put together… it’s truly intriguing, and very beautiful and very unexpected.” 

Concert dates include 8, 9, 10 March at Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver, Colorado, 16 March at Steven Tanger Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, and 22, 23 March at Abravnel Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Watch Colin talk through the different movements and instruments in the concerto, ahead of his world premiere performance of the piece in 2022 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra:

Colin Currie Quartet premieres two works at the Wigmore Hall

Colin Currie Quartet

Tomorrow evening, the Colin Currie Quartet is set to deliver a evening of contemporary percussion music at London's renowned Wigmore Hall. Central to the concert is the world premiere of Freya Waley-Cohen's Stone Fruit.

Co-commissioned by the Wigmore Hall and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Stone Fruit draws its inspiration from the nuanced rhythms of everyday household activities. At its core, this piece features a distinct percussion instrument made from teacups. Through the work, Waley-Cohen draws parallels between the delicateness of the teacups and the surprising intensity of their sound, similar to the hardness of stones inside stone fruits, hidden by their soft exterior flesh.

The quartet also presents the London premiere of Amy Beth Kirsten’s may the devil take me. This work for four triangles delves into the enchantment of sound and the dichotomy between the true and the false, mirroring the interplay between reality and fiction seen in Cervantes' Don Quixote.

In addition to the two premieres, the quartet showcases works by other contemporary composers. These include Andy Akiho, whose rhythmic complexity and use of unconventional materials set him apart in the contemporary music scene; Dave Maric, known for his genre-blending compositions that often incorporate electronic and acoustic elements; Steve Reich, a pioneer in minimalism whose influence on contemporary music is profound.

Critical acclaim for Colin at the Hallé's Steve Reich Festival

© Alex Burns

Last week, Colin led the Hallé in a self-curated festival celebrating the music of Steve Reich, as part of their ‘The Hallé Presents …’ series. Performing to sold-out audiences, Colin conducted the orchestra across two concerts, as well as performing a chamber programme alongside Hallé musicians and students from the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School.

Described as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ event, Colin has received unanimous critical acclaimed:

'A sublime tribute to a master of minimalism. Music with this range of appeal has surely attained the status of classic, and the wonderful performances of six of Reich’s works explained why... In the evening’s biggest piece, The Four Sections, we heard a stark ritual quality and solemn joy… the pulsating, radiant close, brought to a climax with staggering energy by Currie.'
The Telegraph ★★★★★

'The Hallé’s celebration of the 87-year-old composer, curated by percussionist Colin Currie, opened with masterly performances of his intricate works, including the shimmeringly beautiful Music for Ensemble and Orchestra… Tightly corralled by Currie – a conductor with a percussionist’s instinct for meter – shimmering washes of sound and aching melodies coalesced in moments of iridescent splendour.'
The Guardian ★★★★

'The music embarks on a great arc shape, expanding and slowing down, as if time itself were stretching out. It was brilliantly done by the Hallé players with Currie conducting. We also saw the accompanying abstract film by Gerhard Richter and Corinna Belz. Vivid pixel stripes morphed into rich patterns, saturated with colour and texture. The music mirrored its transformations — the effect was mesmerising.'
The Times ★★★★

'The processes at work in The Desert Music are as active and purposeful as anything in Sibelius or Bruckner... it’s a symphony, one of the greatest of our time and it took this electrifying live performance to put me straight about Reich.'
The Spectator

'The orchestra and Currie treated the sold-out house with once-in-a-lifetime set-list, featuring some of Reich’s most extraordinary works in outstanding performances… A dream-team performance from the members of the Hallé and Currie, Reich/Richter was quite a feat. Ever subtly interlocked and beautifully balanced, each musical phrase and rhythmic configuration was given much thought and care, mounting to superlative reading of a genuine masterpiece.'
Adventures in Music

© Alex Burns

Colin leads Steve Reich Festival with The Hallé

© Fondation Louis Vuitton

At the start of February, The Hallé will present a festival celebrating the music of Steve Reich, as part of their ‘The Hallé Presents …’ series. After building a close artistic relationship with the composer over more than 20 years, Colin will bring his unparalleled understanding of Reich’s music to Manchester in three concerts, self-curated at request of The Hallé.

In what will be the most comprehensive and concentrated portrayal of Reich’s music ever by a British symphony orchestra, the festival will also mark Colin’s symphonic debut as a conductor.

Taking the Bridgewater Hall stage on Thursday 1 February, Colin will lead The Hallé Orchestra and The RNCM Chamber Choir in Reich’s The Desert Music, one of Reich's most significant and expansive works. The programme will also feature Reich’s Music for Pieces of Wood and Music for Ensemble and Orchestra.

On Friday 2 February, Colin will perform in a sold-out concert at St Peter’s, joined by Hallé Orchestra musicians, and students from The RNCM & Chetham's School. Lead by Colin, they will perform Reich’s Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ, Mallet Quartet, and Radio Rewrite.

In the sold-out festival finale on Saturday 3 February, Colin returns to Bridgewater Hall for a concert featuring Radiohead guitarist Jonnny Greenwood, who makes a guest appearance at Colin’s invitation. Greenwood will perform Reich’s legendary Electric Counterpoint within the otherwise orchestral programme conducted by Colin, including Reich/Richter featuring film artwork created by Gerhardt Richter.

Watch Colin’s full length exclusive interview with Steve Reich:

Colin performs MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel in Poland

© James Glossop

This week, Colin travels to Katowice, Poland, to perform Sir James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni Emmanuel with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop.

A work of great importance to Colin, he has performed this percussion concerto more than 150 times. He initially worked with Marin on the concerto during his US debut at the Cabrillo Festival in 1996. Subsequently, Colin has also released two critically-acclaimed recordings of the work, first on Naxos in 1999 conducted by Takuo Yuasa, and then on Challenge Classics in 2012, conducted by MacMillan himself.

'Skipping around the composer/conductor between his clusters of tuned and untuned instruments, Currie found every colour and nuance in the score, with the rest of the musicians onstage at full stretch for the duration of the work as well.'
The Herald on Colin’s performance of the work with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 2019

Colin has maintained a close partnership with Sir James through the years, and has since commissioned the composer’s second percussion concerto, which was dedicated to Colin. He premiered the work in 2014 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic:

‘If I had to characterise Colin’s approach it would be a combination of accuracy and sensitivity that generates real emotion.’
Read Sir James McMillan’s interview on his second percussion concerto.