Hailed as being “at the summit of percussion performance today” (Gramophone), Colin Currie is a solo and chamber artist who champions new music at the highest level. Currie is the soloist of choice for many of today’s foremost composers and conductors, and has appeared with leading orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Philharmonia Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A dynamic and adventurous soloist, Currie’s commitment to commissioning and creating new music was recognized by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2015, when he was presented with the Instrumentalist Award. Currie has premiered works by composers such as Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, HK Gruber, Sir James MacMillan, Mark Anthony Turnage, Jennifer Higdon, Guillaume Connesson, and many others.
Highlights of the 2025/26 season include a European tour with Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev, followed by concerts in Scotland performing James MacMillan’s Veni Veni Emmanuel. Concerto appearances include the world premiere of Memoirs by Erkki-Sven Tüür with Tamsin Waley-Cohen and United Strings of Europe; Kalevi Aho’s Sieidi with Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto; Louis Andriessen’s Tapdance and Julia Wolfe’s Body Language with Belgian National Orchestra; the German premiere of Andy Akiho’s Percussion Concerto with Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie; Nicole Lizée’s Blurr is the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes with the Vancouver Symphony; and Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Oregon Symphony.
Currie formed the Colin Currie Group in 2006 to celebrate the music of Steve Reich, making its five-star debut at the BBC Proms. Since then, with Reich’s endorsement, Currie and his ensemble have performed at many venues and festivals internationally. Currie’s conducting career launched with the Colin Currie Group in performances of Reich’s music, and quickly grew into programs exploring American minimalism and contemporary British composers. He has conducted the London Symphony, Hallé Orchestra, Asko|Schönberg Ensemble, Britten Sinfonia, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, among others. This season will see his conducting debut with the BBC Philharmonic, a return project with Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and a play/direct program with the Belgian National Orchestra.
In 2017, Currie partnered with LSO Live to launch Colin Currie Records, a platform for recording his diverse projects. He has released three Colin Currie Group discs including Reich’s Drumming, and most recently, Music for 18 Musicians, recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Colin Currie Records has also released a duo disc with Håkan Hardenberger and an album of HK Gruber’s Percussion Concertos with the BBC Philharmonic. Currie has two releases of Reich with Nonesuch, and recordings of concertos including Danny Elfman for Sony Classical, Elliott Carter for Ondine, Simon Holt for NMC, and James MacMillan for Challenge Classics; his recording of Higdon’s Percussion Concerto with the London Philharmonic/Alsop won a Grammy, and Rautavaara’s Incantations with the Helsinki Philharmonic/Storgårds won a Gramophone Award. The Colin Currie Group releases their fourth album, The Sextets, this spring on Colin Currie Records, marking the first time all of Reich’s sextets have been compiled in one album.
Currie has been Artist in Association at London’s Southbank Centre, Artistic Curator of the Grafenegg Academy, Artist in Residence with the Oregon Symphony, Artist in Residence at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and is currently Visiting Professor of Modern Ensembles at the Royal Academy of Music and Artistic Director of the Colin Currie Group.