In March and April, Colin makes his debut conducting the Asko|Schönberg ensemble in three concerts which present Steve Reich’s Four Organs and Reich/Richter fused with visual artist Gerhard Richter’s Patterns. Colin plays a triple role in this concert; as well as conducting the Reich/Richter piece, he also performs a solo marimba work, Tromp Miniature by Bryce Dessner, and then plays the organ in Reich’s Four Organs.
The Colin Currie Quartet’s performance at London’s Kings Place last month was met with overwhelming praise by the press as they captivated their audience with music by Steve Reich, Connor Shafran, and Rolf Wallin, to name a few. The quartet received a number of wonderful reviews from varying sources including The Guardian, who described the concert as “a sonic display of startling magnificence”.
“The Colin Currie Quartet made Kings Place resound with radical rhythms and technical precision… This was rhythm as pure excitement, and it concluded a concert that richly explored the nature of music and rhythm.” Financial Times, January 2023
“A sonic display of startling magnificence… The centrepiece was Drumming, tuned bongos impeccably synchronised, slipping and looping in and out of phase... Julia Wolfe’s Dark Full Ride, crackling, eruptive, dangerous, made a noisy and spectacular finale.” Observer, January 2023
"...raw fizzing energy of the percussion section from Julia Wolfe’s Dark Full Ride. By the end of the concert it felt as if we were not just listening through our ears but through every cell in the body as the vibrations charged and electrified the atmosphere." ArtsDesk, January 2023
Colin kicks off the new year with a return to Kings Place in London on 20th January for a concert with the Colin Currie Quartet. The programme consists of ‘multiple sound groups’ of early Steve Reich works, including his composition, Drumming. Other compositions include Connor Shafran’s Continental Divide, and John Luther Adams’ Qilyuan with which the group experiment using four bass drums in all four corners of the hall.
On 16th November, the Colin Currie Group will come together at Abbey Road Studios in London to record Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, one of the composer’s most steadfast and redefining works. This album is to be the fifth release on Colin Currie Records and the third in a series of Steve Reich recordings.
Colin returns to Germany on 10th November to perform a concert with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. After its triumphant world premiere at the Royal Festival Hall earlier this year, Colin performs Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto once again, marking its German premiere.
This week, on October 28th, Colin’s latest single, Tromp Miniature, is released on Colin Currie Records. It exhibits Bryce Dessner’s soulful composition which brings to life the power and beauty of the marimba. Commissioned in 2014 by the TROMP International Percussion Competition in Eindhoven, this work for solo marimba became the centre of a unique recording project for Colin, who performed the work at home during lockdown.
