Led by Colin Currie (“the world’s finest and most daring percussionist”, Spectator), the hand-picked ensemble was formed in 2006 for a performance of Drumming at the BBC Proms to celebrate the 70th birthday of Steve Reich. In the subsequent decade, the Colin Currie Group performed Drumming around the world. They have expanded their repertoire to include many of Reich’s most popular works, including Music for 18 Musicians, Sextet, Tehillim and Music for Pieces of Wood and are privileged to have frequently had the composer present when rehearsing and performing these works.

“Another performance that knocked my socks off was Colin Currie and his group doing Drumming at the Southbank this year. It was miked up high, it was expressionist, it was a brand new take. And I thought, Oh, we never could have done it that way.”
Steve Reich on the Colin Currie Group, Irish Times, July 2011

In 2014 the Group premiered Steve Reich’s Quartet (for two pianos and two vibraphones), dedicated by Reich to Colin Currie. Since the premiere at London’s Southbank Centre, the group have given multiple performances of this work, including across the UK, Europe, Asia and America.

The group’s highly anticipated recording of Drumming was released on Colin Currie Records in Spring 2018 after a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds, fully supported by Steve Reich. The recording received outstanding reviews, being described by The Times as "Thunderously exciting" (March 2018).

The Colin Currie Group has appeared in concert at major halls and festivals worldwide, performing regularly at London’s Southbank Centre where Currie is Artist in Association and having made their international debut at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall in 2012 and their European debut at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Other highlights have included concerts in the opening season of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, returning to Tokyo Opera City (March 2017), and performances at Paris Cité de la Musique, Cologne Philharmonie, Prague Strings of Autumn Festival, Rotterdam De Doelen, Glasgow Minimal Festival, Helsinki Festival, Macau Festival, Saffron Hall, King’s Place and the Barbican Centre.

Recent highlights include the release of their second album of selected works by Steve Reich, taken from concerts at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in December 2017, programmed and performed at the composer’s request. The disc included works such as Pulse and Proverb, which the group performed for the first time, as well as Clapping Music performed by Colin Currie and Steve Reich. The group also made their debut in Southeast Asia at the Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore and returned to Cambridge performing at the Cambridge Music Festival, where the programme included Reich Six Marimbas, which the group performed for the first time.

2018/19 season / 383 words. Not to be altered without permission.