One of the most exciting things about presenting our concerts every summer is that, in addition to welcoming back dozens of longtime friends, we welcome artists who are performing at the Festival for the very first time, too. In 2025, several thrilling artists are making their Festival debuts—including Colin Currie, who’s been called nothing less than “the world’s finest and most daring percussionist” by The Spectator, “an athlete and a star” by The Guardian, and a musician who’s “at the summit of percussion performance today” by Gramophone. On Thursday, August 7, at 12 p.m., you can catch Currie as he not only makes his Festival debut but also gives the Festival’s first-ever solo percussion recital!
Currie was born in Edinburgh and began studying music at age five. He graduated from London’s Royal Academy of Music in 1998, four years after he became the first percussionist to make it to the final rounds of the BBC Young Musician competition. Currie quickly gained international recognition, and his early honors included being named a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist in 2003 and winning a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2005.
Over the past two decades, Currie’s performed with the world’s leading ensembles—from the New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra to the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He’s an in-demand performer among today’s most influential composers, and he’s premiered works by Louis Andriessen, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Brett Dean, Helen Grime, HK Gruber, Jennifer Higdon, Sir James MacMillan, and Julia Wolfe, among many others. In 2022, Currie premiered Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and in May, he released a recording of the work—which Stereophile called “a wild ride”—with conductor JoAnn Falletta and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on the Sony Classical label.
Currie is also well known for his sublime performances and recordings—including on his own Colin Currie Records label—of music by Steve Reich, who called Currie “one of the greatest musicians in the world today.” In 2006, Currie formed the Colin Currie Group to play Reich’s landmark, early-1970s work Drumming at the BBC Proms as part of a celebration of Reich’s 70th birthday, and today the group specializes in performing Reich’s works. (Reich has said that the group’s performances of his works are “the best [he’s] ever heard.”) In February, Currie curated the Manchester-based Hallé orchestra’s three-day-long Steve Reich Festival, and in 2021, the Colin Currie Group and Synergy Vocals premiered Reich’s stunning Traveler’s Prayer at The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
In addition to Currie’s August 7 recital—which features music by Kevin Volans, Tansy Davies, Andy Akiho, Toshio Hosokawa, and Rolf Wallin plus a new work by the award-winning British composer Dani Howard—you can catch him in two additional performances next summer. On Monday, August 11, at 6 p.m., Currie gives the US premiere of Freya Waley-Cohen’s Festival-commissioned percussion quartet Stone Fruit, and he plays Julia Wolfe’s 2002 work for four drum sets, Dark Full Ride. Two days later, on Wednesday, August 13, at 6 p.m., Currie joins an ensemble of Festival musicians for Artistic Director Marc Neikrug’s World War II–set “play with music,” Through Roses, narrated by Tony Award-winning actor John Rubinstein.
Subscriptions for our 2025 season are on sale now—with discounted prices available through September 30! Contact our Ticket Office at 505.982.1890 or tickets@sfcmf.org to purchase your subscriptions or get more information today!