Announced today, Colin has been appointed as a new Visiting Professor of Modern Ensembles at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
Colin is an alumnus of the Academy, and has previously served as professor of solo percussion, as well as collaborating on and leading many projects.
He said: ‘As I begin my third professorial decade for my Alma Mater I am delighted with this new and enriched role, curating ensemble projects for and with the students. Nothing is more crucial than performance experience, and this area will engender maximum diversity of contemporary repertoire and broad stylistic versatility.’
Colin will begin his role in September 2024, when he will also direct his first concert for the Academy. Read more.
Scottish Chamber Orchestra - Conducting Debut
Next week, Colin takes on a new joint role with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, performing as both conductor and concerto soloist.
Colin built his programme around the music of Steve Reich, branching out to connected works by Louis Andriessen, Arvo Pärt and Julia Wolfe.
The concert opens with Arvo Pärt’s chamber work Frartres for winds and percussion, before he assumes the role of soloist/director in Andriessen’s Tapdance concerto, which was written for Colin and premiered by him in 2014. After the percussion concerto, Currie will conduct Julia Wolfe’s Fuel followed by two works of Steve Reich - the warmly lyrical Pulse and the extraordinary Radio Re-write, which took inspiration from songs by British rock band, Radiohead.
Colin has enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, having performed with them many times and premiered several new concertos together.
Grafenegg Academy 2023
Colin is returning to co-curate Austria's prestigious Grafenegg Academy for the second year in a row. This season, he will be joined by his duo partner Håkan Hardenberger and violinist Alina Ibragimova to lead the artistic direction of the Academy.
Colin premieres new concerto by British composer Gavin Higgins inspired by the Beano comic books
Colin performs Joey Roukens’ Percussion Concerto in Sweden and Spain
This month, Colin makes a return to Sweden and Spain to perform one of his favourite works, Joey Roukens’ Percussion Concerto. Commissioned specially for Colin by the De Doelen Concert Hall in Rotterdam, he has performed this wonderful piece several times since its premier in 2011. The percussionist describes the work as “immensely colourful, using a large percussion palette of several set-ups and keyboard instruments, all supported by the composer’s trademark kaleidoscopic orchestration.”
Dessner, Reich / Asko|Schönberg / Colin Currie - conductor
"Colin Currie, who earlier laid down a mesmerizing introduction with Bryce Dessner's Tromp Miniature, led Reich with a steady hand. The smooth music seemed to encourage the patterns to multiply kaleidoscopically, and could sound intensely red or pale blue, à la Richter's brush. Beautiful."
Het Parool, April 2023
"Things get more intense when Currie takes a seat behind keyboards with three more pianists (Saskia Lankhoorn, Pauline Post and Tim Sabel) for Steve Reich's Four Organs (1970)… the musicians stop playing at exactly the same time and that one second of spectacular silence only commands great admiration for their concentration and stamina."
de Volkskrant, April 2023
"…the ASKO ensemble produced a warm, swirling symphonic sound, taking full advantage of the Muziekgebouw's acoustics."
Basia Con Fuoco, April 2023
"A stage-wide screen starts full of coloured lines, one thinner than the other, blending into each other. Slowly, the lines develop into brightly coloured patterns that flow across the screen (with breathtakingly deep colour contrast for a projection, it looks like stained glass)… Behind that screen are fourteen musicians from Asko|Schönberg, who can very occasionally be seen through the images."
NRC, April 2023
Colin Currie Group perform the music of Steve Reich in Japan
This Spring, the Colin Currie Group returns to Japan, performing concerts at Tokyo Opera City and the Nagakute Cultural Center. In continuation of the group’s long standing relationship with Tokyo Opera City, who also co-commissioned Traveler’s Prayer, these concerts are held in the prestigious Takemitsu Memorial Hall on the 21st and 22nd April.
Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians release
On 21st April, the Colin Currie Group will release their album Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. Following the success of Colin’s previous Steve Reich albums, (Steve Reich: Drumming in 2018 and Colin Currie & Steve Reich Live at Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2019), this album, recorded with Synergy Vocals at Abbey Road Studios, is to be the sixth release on Colin Currie Records and the third in a series of Steve Reich recordings.