February 11, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Beethoven’s landmark Symphony No. 3, “Eroica,” is presented by Music Director Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony in a concert that also features the Symphony debut of charismatic percussionist Colin Currie playing more than 20 different instruments in Joseph Schwantner’s Percussion Concerto on April 9, 10 and 11 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Lufthansa is the exclusive airline sponsor for the Symphony’s Classical series. The April 9 concert is sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank. Media support is provided by The Oregonian.
Kalmar leads the orchestra in Beethoven’s innovative Symphony No. 3, a work whose propulsive rhythmic energy immediately marked Beethoven as a musical revolutionary. Originally named after Beethoven’s hero Napoleon, the “Eroica” knocks out 18 th-century notions of the symphony beginning with the one-two punch of the opening chords. At the time it was written the “Eroica” was the longest symphony ever heard, and throughout its four movements Beethoven’s restlessly inventive melodies, harmonies and rhythms shocked his 19 th century audience in the spring of 1805. Today the “Eroica” is considered one of the watershed compositions in the history of classical music.
Currie, whose playing is described by the Buffalo News as “partly gymnastic, partly ritual, always virtuosic and wholly extraordinary,” is fast becoming the most sought-after solo percussionist performing today. In 2000 The Glasgow Herald wrote, “It’s important not to understate Colin Currie’s standing. We know he’s good—one of the best. He’s already a figure of international standing. But this incredible young Scottish musician—just in his mid-twenties—will be a world star.”
In Pulitzer-winning American composer Joseph Schwantner’s 1995 Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, Currie plays more than 20 different percussion instruments from around the world, including the water gong (a tam-tam lowered into a kettledrum filled with water) and a bowed vibraphone (drawing a contrabass bow over the keys instead of hitting them with a mallet). Currie will also play a set of French crotales, small metal shells similar to castanets, almglocken (pitched Alpine cowherd bells of Switzerland), Latin-American timbaletas (small drums with different pitches) and bongo drums. Currie will perform each movement from a different part of the stage, beginning near the percussion section in the first movement, moving to center stage for the second and opening the third movement by improvising on an African beaded gourd called a shekere while he walks back to his starting position from the first movement.
The concert opens with Witold Lutoslawski’s dramatic and powerful “Musique funèbre,” written to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the death of Bartók.
Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:
Concert Conversations: Carlos Kalmar and Shaun Yu of KBPS All Classical 89.9 will lead a discussion one hour before the concert of the works to be performed. Media support for “Concert Conversations” is provided by Classical Millennium.
Saturday: Carlos Kalmar will speak briefly from the podium in “Saturday Interactive.” Media support for “Saturday Interactive” is provided by KINKfm102.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, April 9 and 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, April 11 at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets range in price from $18 to $80 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Percussionist Colin Currie is one of the leading artists of his generation, appearing as soloist with major orchestras and festivals worldwide. By commissioning and recording many new works he has made an inspirational and innovative contribution to the percussion repertoire.
Born in Edinburgh in 1976, Currie came to national attention at the age of fifteen, when he won the Shell/London Symphony Orchestra Music Scholarship. In 1994 he won the first percussion prize in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, giving the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s Concerto for Percussion in the final at London’s Barbican Centre. Since then Currie has worked with some of the leading conductors, composers and orchestras of our day and in 2001 was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award for his outstanding role in contemporary music-making.
Currie has been selected as a BBC New Generation Artist until September 2005 and as part of the scheme will perform in a variety of concerto and recital engagements with the BBC orchestras and in major festivals and concert halls. He has recently premiered new works such as Joe Duddell’s Percussion Concerto at the BBC Proms in London in 2003, and Michael Torke’s concerto “Rapture.” He has appeared with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Komische Oper Berlin and Dallas Symphony with conductors Roberto Abbado, Marin Alsop, Stefan Asbury, Dougie Boyd, Martyn Brabbins, Paul Daniel, Enrique Diemecke, Christoph Eschenbach, JoAnn Falletta, Thierry Fischer, HK Gruber, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Carlos Kalmar, Yakov Kreizberg, James MacMillan, David Alan Miller, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Jac van Steen, Garry Walker and Takao Yuasa.
Highlights of the 2004/5 season include the world premiere of a new percussion concerto by Thea Musgrave with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. He also gives performances with the Orchestre National de Lyon, BBC Symphony at the Barbican, Tokyo Philharmonic, Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Auckland Philharmonic and performs at the Cheltenham Festival. In the USA he will solo with the Baltimore Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic and at the Grant Park Festival, and further ahead will also appear with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and St Louis Symphony.
Currie has performed extensively as recitalist in London and across Europe as well as in Tokyo and the USA. Recent highlights include the Lucerne Festival, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, Paris Présences Festival and London’s Spitalfields Festival. He has premiered new solo works by composers such as Dave Maric, Dai Fujikura, John McLeod and Joe Duddell.
An active chamber musician, Currie has collaborated with artists such as the Labèque sisters, Petersen Quartet, Dawn Upshaw, Viktoria Mullova, Hakan Hardenberger, Josh Bell, Steven Isserlis and jazz musicians Peter Erskine, Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor.
Colin Currie’s first solo album, “Striking a Balance,” was released on EMI in February ‘98. Since then he has recorded Michael Torke’s concerto “Rapture” with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Marin Alsop and James MacMillan’s “Veni, Veni Emmanuel” with the Ulster Orchestra, both for Naxos.
Colin Currie plays Zildjan cymbals.
