The Colin Currie Group made their debut at the Helsinki Festival on the 19 August 2015 with an all-Reich programme, collaborating with Avanti! Chamber Orchestra on Radio Rewrite and with Steve Reich himself on Clapping Music. The performance also included Pendulum Music and the Finnish premiere of Quartet, Reich’s 2014 composition for two pianos and two vibraphones.

The performance was met with great acclaim from the Finnish press:

“The lack of personal, romantic expression is an important doctrine of minimalism. Electric instruments and percussion suit the ideal of an objective and neutral sound. However, strong primitive feelings are still invoked in the audience. Is the role of the musician in this case only that of a mediator? Colin Currie Group, founded in 2006 to perform Reich’s music, holds the answer to this. Even though they play Reich’s rhythms with an un-intimate and superhuman precision, their rhythmic interpretation is unique, airy and athletically springy. They work through Reich’s music like a sculptor molding his piece with dynamic changes and adjusting its texture, not by traditional expressive conventions.”

Auli Särkiö, Rondo Classic

“The work of Colin Currie Group in Quartet was a delight to follow. These excellent musicians are perfectly at home with this music… The performance by Colin Currie Group evolved into a captivating ritual. The perfect focus of the musicians, their subtle moves from one instrument to another as well as their seamless coordination made the performance of Sextet truly a pleasure to watch and to listen. ”

Jari Kallio, Amfion