The Colin Currie Group is a British percussion group founded and led by

Colin Currie Colin David Currie (born 25 September 1976) is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. He is the founder and leader of the Colin Currie Group, an ensemble dedicated to performing and recording the music of Steve Reich. Biography Early years Colin ...

. This ensemble is dedicated to performing and recording the music of

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

Career

Percussionist Colin Currie has been fascinated by Steve Reich's music since he was a teenager. He formed The Colin Currie Group in 2006 for a performance of '' Drumming'', by

, at the BBC Proms to celebrate the composer's 70th birthday. The Colin Currie Group continued to perform ''Drumming'' around the world, and have since added a number of works by Reich to their repertoire, such as ''

Music for 18 Musicians ''Music for 18 Musicians'' is a work of minimalist music composed by Steve Reich during 1974–1976. Its world premiere was on April 24, 1976, at The Town Hall in New York City. Following this, a recording of the piece was released by ECM New ...

'', ''

Sextet A sextet (or hexad) is a formation containing exactly six members. The former term is commonly associated with vocal ensembles (e.g. The King's Singers, Affabre Concinui) or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six ...

'', '' Tehillim'', and '' Music for Pieces of Wood''. Reich has worked closely with the ensemble, and has said that Colin Currie is “one of the greatest musicians working in the world today.” Reich has performed with the Colin Currie Group, notably for a performance of his '' Clapping Music'', in a concert that saw the 2014 world premiere of ''

Quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

'' for two vibraphones and two pianos. The Colin Currie Group has performed extensively in the United Kingdom, as well as performing their international debut at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall in 2012, and their European debut at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. They have also performed at Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, London's Southbank Centre, the Paris Cité de la Musique, Cologne Philharmonie, Prague Strings of Autumn Festival, Rotterdam De Doelen, Glasgow Minimal Festival, Helsinki Festival, and the Macau Festival. The group contains up to a dozen members in addition to Currie, according to the pieces performed. In 2017, The Colin Currie Group successfully crowdfunded a recording of Reich's ''Drumming'', exceeding their goal, and released this recording on Colin Currie Records in February 2018. In February 2018, Nonesuch Records released a recording of Colin Currie Group performing Steve Reich's ''Quartet,'' paired with the composer's '' Pulse,'' performed by International Contemporary Ensemble.

Notes

References

External links

Colin Currie Group's Website

Colin Currie's website

Colin Currie Group on the Intermusica website
{{Authority control British instrumental musical groups Percussion ensembles 2006 establishments in the United Kingdom 2006 in music