12 Facts About Colin Currie

Colin David Currie was born on 25 September 1976 and is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist.

Colin Currie is the founder and leader of the Colin Currie Group, an ensemble dedicated to performing and recording the music of Steve Reich.

Colin Currie began his musical studies at the age of 5.

Colin Currie attended the Junior Department of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1990 to 1994, where he studied percussion with Pamella Dow and piano with Sheila Desson, both of whom had an enormous influence on him.

Colin Currie then went on to graduate from the Royal Academy of Music in 1998, and played principal timpani and percussion with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and The European Union Youth Orchestra.

Colin Currie is considered as one of the most charismatic young artists in the world of contemporary music and seen as a catalyst for the creation of new music.

Colin Currie won the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award in 2000, was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist between 2003 and 2005 and received a Bortletti Buitoni Trust Award in 2005.

Colin Currie's recording of Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

In May 2015, Colin Currie was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award for achievement in the UK during 2014.

Colin Currie is Visiting Professor of Solo-Percussion in the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and is involved in educational and outreach work with a variety of age-groups.

In January 2011 Colin Currie was appointed as an Artist in Residence at London's Southbank Centre and still holds the position.

In recent seasons, Colin Currie has been a central figure in festivals hosted by the Southbank Centre.