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Born in Edinburgh in 1976, Colin Currie came to national attention in 1992 at the age of fifteen, when he won the Gold Medal of the Shell/London Symphony Orchestra Music Scholarship. In 1994 he became the first percussion finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, giving the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s Concerto for Percussion in the final at London’s Barbican Centre, televised live to an estimated eleven million viewers.
Since then, Currie has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras around the world, working with conductors such as Marin Alsop, Leonard Slatkin, David Robertson, Paul Daniel, James MacMillan and Martyn Brabbins. He continually commissions and performs new works and in 2001 gave the world premiere of Michael Torke’s percussion concerto Rapture, written especially for him. Future commissions include major concerti by David Sawer and Joe Duddell. Currie has a particularly strong relationship with James MacMillan’s concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, with more than 50 performances of the work to date and a recording with the Ulster Orchestra for Naxos. In 2001 Colin Currie was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award for his outstanding contribution to innovative music-making in the year 2000.
This season Currie performs with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Orchestre de Bretagne, City of London Sinfonia and Eugene Symphony. He will give the US premiere of the Torke concerto as well as the world premiere of a new concerto by David Sawer at the Cheltenham Festival. Further ahead he has major plans with the Netherlands Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Toulouse and BBC Philharmonic.
Other orchestras Currie has worked with include the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, National Symphony of Ireland, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Komische Oper Berlin, MDR Symphony Leipzig, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orquestra Nacional de Porto, Ulster Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Cabrillo (California) Chamber Orchestra, Utah Symphony, and in April 2002 Currie premiered Snowblind, a concerto by British composer Joe Duddell with the BT Scottish Ensemble.
As a recitalist, Currie is involved in the continuing development of new and diverse repertoire for solo percussion. Recent highlights include a recital at the Lucerne Festival in summer 2002 and recital debuts in the U.S. and Japan. He has performed extensively in the UK (including Wigmore Hall), as well as in the Middle East, Belgium, France, Holland, Switzerland and Hong Kong.
An active chamber musician, Currie has collaborated with artists such as the Peterson String Quartet, Clio Gould, Peter Donohoe and Martin Roscoe, performed Berio Folk Songs with Dawn Upshaw, and toured internationally with Viktoria Mullova’s Through the Looking Glass ensemble. This season he embarks on a major project with the Labèque sisters performing solo and chamber works and a new commission by Dave Maric, which will tour in Europe and the US. Other future collaborations include a US tour with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet in February 2004, and developing new repertoire for a percussion and organ recital project at Westminster Abbey.
Colin Currie’s first solo album, Striking a Balance from EMI’s Debut series for young artists, was released in February ‘98. A recording of the Torke concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Marin Alsop is soon to be released by Naxos. Colin Currie plays Zildjian cymbals.
Mr. Currie is represented by Intermusica Artists’ Management Ltd, London
July 2002
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Colin Currie percussionist
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