Colin Currie, percussionist
Percussionist Colin Currie in known for his charismatic and virtuosic performances of works by today’s leading composers, making innovative contributions to the percussion repertoire. 

Born in Edinburgh in 1976, Colin Currie won the Shell/LSO prize at the age of 15, and subsequently was the first percussion finalist in the BBC Young Musician competition, giving the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s Concerto for Percussion at London’s Barbican Centre. In 2001 he was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award for his outstanding role in contemporary music-making. Currie is a Borletti-Buitoni Trust award winner for 2005 and is Visiting Professor of Solo Percussion at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Currie is deeply committed to the development of new repertoire for percussion in its widest form – orchestral, solo and in chamber music. He commissioned and recorded Rapture, the concerto by Michael Torke, as well as several works for percussion and electronics by Dave Maric. The British composer Joe Duddell has written three works for Currie, including the concerto Ruby, which premiered at the BBC Proms in 2003. In January 2005 Currie premiered the concerto Wood, Metal & Skin by Thea Musgrave in Edinburgh.

Currie was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2003-2005, performing a variety of concerto and recital engagements with the BBC orchestras and in major festivals and concert halls.

In the 2005-2006 season, Colin will premiere three major new works. He makes his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach, premiering a new percussion concerto by American composer Jennifer Higdon, with additional performances at Carnegie Hall and Washington, and later this season with the Dallas Symphony and Indianapolis Symphony.

Currie also makes a return visit to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with David Robertson in the European premiere of the marimba concerto Colours of Crimson by Bright Sheng.  He also premieres Time Release by Steven Mackey with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Residentie Orkest – repeated further ahead with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Other highlights of the season include performances with the St. Louis Symphony, New World Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in Chicago, Copenhagen Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de Nice.

Currie has performed extensively as recitalist in London and across Europe as well as in Tokyo and the United States. He has premiered new solo works by composers such as Dave Maric, Dai Fujikura, John McLeod and Joe Duddell. An active chamber musician, Currie has collaborated with numerous well-known classical and jazz musicians.

Colin Currie’s first solo album, Striking a Balance, was released on EMI in February 1998. Since then he has recorded Michael Torke’s Rapture with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Marin Alsop and James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni Emmanuel with the Ulster Orchestra, both for Naxos.

Colin Currie plays Zildjan cymbals.