Percussionist Colin Currie first came to Cabrillo Festival at 19 years old to perform James MacMillan’s first percussion concerto, Veni, Veni Emmanuel. Since then he has become a leading solo percussionist who has performed MacMillan’s concerto more than 150 times all over the world. At 38, he returns for the U.S. premiere of MacMillan’s second percussion concerto. MacMillan dedicated the piece, which is co-commissioned by the Cabrillo Festival, to Currie.

Percussion Concerto No. 2 was commissioned by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Netherlands Broadcasting Organizations AVROTROS/NTR, the Philharmonia Orchestra with the support of the Southbank Centre, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Marin Alsop, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.)