Percussion star to appear at SPAC
SARATOGA SPRINGS — International percussion superstar and virtuoso Colin Currie will make his debut appearance at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in the 2013 season, performing as the featured soloist in a program with The Philadelphia Orchestra Aug. 15.
A champion of new music and favored soloist for many of today’s foremost composers, Currie has been the driving force behind new percussion repertoire for more than a decade. He performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras.
“Colin Currie’s stunning virtuosity and role as new music champion have defined him as the foremost percussionist of his generation,” SPAC President and Executive Director Marcia J. White said. “He is among those at the vanguard of classical music today; an innovator whose electrifying percussion performances are thrilling audiences in concert halls across the globe and opening up new paths in classical music. We are tremendously excited he will be part of our 2013 season.”
Positioned front and center on stage in front of the orchestra, Currie performs with a formidable range of percussion instruments that can include typical percussion equipment such as the timpani, snare drum, bass drum, marimba and vibraphone, as well as “found” instruments such as buckets, bottles, keys or pans.
In his recent premiere of Julia Wolfe’s riSE and fLY percussion concerto, he also performed hip- hop body percussion and urban inspired grooves.
Currie’s performances are highly visual, featuring athletic strides and choreography that add a theatrical element to the experience. The Buffalo News noted that “… Currie’s performance is partly gymnastic, partly ritual, always virtuosic and wholly extraordinary in its sense of musical exaltation.”
From his earliest years, Currie forged a pioneering path in creating new music for percussion. He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award in 2000 for his inspirational role in contemporary music- making and received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2005.
Currie’s commissions have included works by esteemed composers such as Simon Holt, Kurt Schwertsik, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Jennifer Higdon and Elliott Carter.
Most recently, Gramophone lauded Currie’s “blistering virtuosity” at the 2012 Gramophone Awards as the recording of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s percussion concerto “Incantations” won the contemporary category. Currie performs in the world premiere recording alongside the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of chief conductor John Storgards. The concerto was written for and dedicated to Currie, and he himself composed its virtuosic cadenza.
Currie also leads the dynamic percussion ensemble The Colin Currie Group, which continues to receive critical acclaim for its performances of Steve Reich’s iconic work “Drumming.” A theatrical and captivating showcase for percussion, the program is a non-stop, 50- to 75- minute fusion of bongo drums, marimbas, glockenspiels and synthesised vocals. The tour has played to sold-out concert halls across Europe.
Currie, fellow Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie and a handful of other solo percussionists have helped propel the art form to the forefront of the orchestra stage. Over the past 15 years, percussion programs have become one of the biggest growth areas in music, particularly classical music, due in part to the increasing sophistication of tuned percussion such as marimba. These advances have drawn more musicians to the field and captured the attention of audiences; percussion-focused performances tend to draw larger crowds and younger attendees to classical concert halls.
Tickets for this program and all SPAC events will go on sale online to SPAC members at spac.org in late February and to the general public in mid-March.