BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:1.0 BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20130202T200000 DTEND:20130202T210000 LOCATION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Civic Center Music Hall (201 N. Walker, Oklahoma City, OK) DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:

Percussion Soloist Makes
Philharmonic Debut

Colin Currie Performs with the OKC Phil on Saturday, February 2 at 8PM

(Oklahoma City OK) -- Internationally-acclaimed percussion soloist, Colin Currie, makes his debut with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic in the Percussion Concerto by American composer Jennifer Higdon. Currie performs under the direction of Maestro Joel Levine on Saturday, February 2 at 8PM at the OKC Civic Center.

Currie is a solo and chamber artist at the peak of his powers and has been the driving force behind new percussion repertoire for more than a decade. Championing new music at the highest level, Currie is the soloist of choice for many of today's foremost composers and he performs regularly with the world's leading orchestras and conductors.

Maestro Levine and the OKC Philharmonic will perform two additional works on this Oklahoman Classics Series concert. The performances opens with Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man; and closing the concert will be excerpts from Peter Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake.

The fifth concert of the 2012-2013 Oklahoman Classics Series, the evening's performance is sponsored by OG&E Energy and Tri-State Industrial Group. Additional funding is provided by the Allied Arts Foundation and the Oklahoma Arts Council.

Tickets
Tickets are available in all areas of the Civic Center and range from $65 to $15 each. Call the Philharmonic box office at 405-TICKETS (842-5387) weekdays from 9AM to 5PM. Outlet tickets are available at the Civic Center Music Hall ticket office at 201 N. Walker in downtown OKC (Call 405-297-CCMH) and online at www.okcphilharmonic.org. Convenience charges apply at all outlets.

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Performers

"The performance elicited a cheering ovation for the extraordinary percussion soloist, Colin Currie, and for the composer..." New York Times review of Jennifer Higdon's Concerto.

COLIN CURRIE, percussion

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. Past commissions have included works by composers such as Simon Holt, Kurt Schwertsik, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Jennifer Higdon and Alexander Goehr, and Kalevi Aho whose new percussion concerto SieidiCurrie performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vänskä at London’s South Bank Centre in 2012. Currie has also had the privilege of commissioning a new work from Elliott Carter: a double concerto, Conversations, Currie premiered the original version of this with Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Aldeburgh Festival in June 2011 and then in its extended form, he premiered the new longer version Two Controversies and a Conversationwith the New York Philharmonic/Roberson. Upcoming commissions include new works by Nico Muhly, Steve Reich, James MacMillan and Louis Andriessen.

In 2011 Currie was appointed Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre, a role which allows him to develop new relationships with artists and ensembles across a variety of art forms, as well as take part in collaborative and educational projects. Highlights of Currie’s 12-13 season include his debut with orchestras such as Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Saraste, Oslo Philharmonic/Saraste in Oslo and at the Grafenegg Festival, Goteborg Symphony/Roth, and returns to Philadelphia/Boreyko, Baltimore/Alsop, BBC Philharmonic/Storgards, Orchestre National de Toulouse/Storgards, Britten Sinfonia, New Zealand and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras amongst others.

Currie’s dynamic percussion ensemble The Colin Currie Group continues to receive critical acclaim for its performances of Steve Reich’s iconic work Drumming. Following sell-out performances throughout the UK including at London’s Southbank Centre, in 2012 the group makes its international debut with two performances at Tokyo Opera City, Japan. Other recital projects include a duo recital programme with trumpeter Hakan Hardenberger featuring new commissions by Lukas Ligeti, Christian Muthspiel and Tobias Broström, which premiered in Hannover and the Far East in 2011.

Currie’s recording of Rautavaara’sIncantations with the Helsinki Philharmonic under John Storgårds was released to critical acclaim in February 2012 (Ondine), and his new recording of MacMillan’sVeni, Veni, Emmanuel with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and James MacMillan on Challenge Classics has just been released. Previous CD releases by Currie include Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto conducted by Marin Alsop with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which won a 2010 Grammy Award, and a recital discBorrowed Time, which features music by British composer Dave Maric and is available on the Onyx label.

Link to hi-res images of Colin Currie

Joel Levine

In his twenty-fourth season leading the Philharmonic, Joel Levine is the longest serving music director in our City’s history. Including his tenure with the Oklahoma Symphony, Maestro Levine is enjoying his thirty-third year on the podium at Civic Center Music Hall. Under his leadership, the orchestra has appeared on international, national and local television broadcasts and released several recordings. Maestro Levine’s reputation for exceptional musical collaboration has enabled the Philharmonic to present one of the country’s most distinguished series of world-renowned guest artists. He has collaborated with many of the greatest performing artists of our time and has been called a “remarkable musician and visionary” by Yo-Yo Ma.

The Oklahoma City Philharmonic

Tracing its roots to the city’s first professional orchestra in 1924, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic formed in 1988 under the musical direction of Joel Levine with the help of many civic leaders and corporations.

The Philharmonic employs professional musicians in a per service contract. With subscription performances from September through May, the Philharmonic presents a series of eight Classics concerts and six pairs of Pops concerts each season. Regional performances and many educational outreach concerts, including the Discovery Family Series and Youth Concerts to area school children, are presented by the OKC Philharmonic. Holiday performances of “The Christmas Show!”, the July 3rd concert in downtown Oklahoma City, the July 4th concert in Yukon, OK, and the annual Labor Day concert presented at the Oklahoma City Community College have become family traditions for thousands in Central Oklahoma.

Together with the Oklahoma City Orchestra League, the Philharmonic presents 18 different education programs that bring enrichment to music lovers of all ages.

Oklahoma City Philharmonic
428 West California, Suite 210
Oklahoma City OK 73102
405-TICKETS (842-5387)

www.okcphilharmonic.org

SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Oklahoman Classics Series PRIORITY:3END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR