Percussionist Colin Currie is interviewed by William Dart in Friday’s (6/30) New Zealand Herald, “here for two concerto gigs with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the NZSO National Youth Orchestra. … Currie is at the top of his field and, returning to play with the NZSO for the third time, deems it well worth the travel to work with a really first-rate and highly collaborative orchestra. While violinists and pianists forge careers with Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, percussionists, with a solo repertoire that only dates from the last century, must deal with the contemporary. … On Currie’s latest tour, we’ll hear two concertos by Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan—the well-known Veni Veni Emmanuel from 1992 and a second percussion concerto, commissioned by Currie in 2012. … Eight days after playing MacMillan’s Percussion Concerto No. 2, Currie plays Veni Veni Emmanuel with the NZSO National Youth Orchestra and he may well be thinking of his recent championing of the struggling European Youth Orchestra or his own formative years playing with Scotland’s National Youth Orchestra. ‘This is how young musicians can really get the buzz,’ he stresses. ‘There’s nothing quite like participating in an orchestra that’s playing the highest order of repertoire.’ ”
Posted June 30, 2017
