Dame Evelyn Glennie | |
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 Glennie at Moers Festival 2004 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie |
| Born | 19 July 1965 Methlick, Aberdeenshire, Scotland |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Percussion |
| Spouse(s) | Greg Malcangi (m. 1994–2003) |
| Website | evelyn |
| Awards |
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Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Annie Glennie, [1] CH , DBE (born 19 July 1965) is a Scottish percussionist. She was selected as one of the two laureates for the Polar Music Prize of 2015.
Glennie was born in Methlick, Aberdeenshire in Scotland. The indigenous musical traditions of northeast Scotland were important in her development as a musician. Her first instruments were the piano and the clarinet. [2] Other influences were Glenn Gould, Jacqueline du Pré and Trilok Gurtu. She studied at Ellon Academy, Aberdeenshire and the Royal Academy of Music, London.
She was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland [3] and the Cults Percussion Ensemble which was formed in 1976 by her school percussion peripatetic teacher Ron Forbes. They toured and recorded one album, which was re-released on Trunk Records in 2012. [4]
Glennie tours all over the world performing as a soloist with a wide variety of orchestras and electric musicians. She conducts master classes, consultations and engages in motivational speaking. [5] She is a leading commissioner of new works for solo percussion.[ citation needed ] [6]
Glennie also plays the Great Highland Bagpipes and has her own registered tartan known as "The Rhythms of Evelyn Glennie". [7]
Glennie performed at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in London 2012, leading a thousand drummers in the opening piece of music And I Will Kiss, and also playing the Glennie Concert Aluphone in Caliban's Dream during the ceremony for lighting the Olympic cauldron. [8] [9]
Glennie is a patron of the music charity Sound World.
On 7 April 2021, Glennie was named as Chancellor of Robert Gordon University, succeeding Sir Ian Wood in July 2021. [10]
Glennie has been profoundly deaf since the age of 8, having started to lose her hearing at the age of 8. [11] This does not inhibit her ability to perform. She regularly plays barefoot during live performances and studio recordings to feel the music. [11]
Glennie contends that deafness is largely misunderstood by the public. She explains that her teacher Ron Forbes taught her to hear with parts of her body other than her ears. Ron Forbes helped her in feeling the music other way from her body parts. She felt the upper drum from the Waist up and the lower drum from waist down. On her website Glennie published "Hearing Essay" in which she discusses her condition. [12] Glennie also discusses how she feels music in different parts of her body in her TED talk "How To Truly Listen", published in 2003, and a collection of her speeches and writings are published in her book Listen World!. [13]
Glennie was featured on Icelandic singer Björk's album Telegram , performing the duet "My Spine". She also co-composed "Oxygen". She has collaborated with many other musicians including former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, Bela Fleck, Bobby McFerrin, Fred Frith, Mark Knopfler, The King's Singers and Kodō.[ citation needed ]
In 2012, she collaborated with Underworld and Danny Boyle on the soundtrack to the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games performing live in the stadium. [14]
In 2018, Glennie worked with Gregory Doran and the Royal Shakespeare Company composing the music for a production of Troilus and Cressida . [15] In the same year she began a collaboration with experimental jazz musicians Trio HLK, touring with them [16] and appearing on their debut album Standard Time. [17]
In 2020, Glennie collaborated with the music charity Sound World, composing a new piece "The Grace of Silence" for their Coronavirus Fund for Freelance Musicians. It was recorded by members of the Bristol Ensemble and released by Sound World in January 2021. [18] It is the opening track on the album Reflections. [19] Glennie also composed some of the music for the film Sound of Metal directed by Darius Marder. She is a prolific composer for the library music company Audio Network. Her works are published by Faber Music.
On 21 November 2007, the UK government announced an infusion of £332 million for music education. This resulted from successful lobbying spearheaded by Glennie, Sir James Galway, Julian Lloyd Webber, and the late Michael Kamen who (in 2002–03) together formed the Music in Education Consortium. [20]
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(July 2021) |
Glennie's awards include:
She has been awarded 29 honorary doctorates from universities in the United Kingdom, most recently in 2023, Doctor of Music (DMus) [25] from the University of St Andrews, the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1993 and was promoted to Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2007 New Year Honours. [26] She was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2017 New Year Honours. [27] She owns in excess of 3500 percussion instruments from all over the world and is continually adding to her collection. [28] Glennie is an Ambassador of Sistema Scotland and is President of Help Musicians. She was appointed Music Rights Champion by the International Music Council in October 2016. [29]
Performed a scene with Sesame Street regular Linda Bove. [37]
Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. He was also a member of the groups Art Bears, Massacre, and Skeleton Crew. He has collaborated with a number of prominent musicians, including Robert Wyatt, Derek Bailey, the Residents, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Mike Patton, Lars Hollmer, Bill Laswell, Iva Bittová, Jad Fair, Kramer, the ARTE Quartett, and Bob Ostertag. He has also composed several long works, including Traffic Continues and Freedom in Fragments. Frith produces most of his own music, and has also produced many albums by other musicians, including Curlew, the Muffins, Etron Fou Leloublan, and Orthotonics.
Dame Janet Abbott Baker is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.
James Blades OBE was an English percussionist.
John Psathas, is a New Zealand Greek composer. He has works in the repertoire of such high-profile musicians as Evelyn Glennie, Michael Houstoun, Michael Brecker, Joshua Redman and the New Juilliard Ensemble, and is one of New Zealand's most frequently performed composers. He has established an international profile and receives regular commissions from organisations in New Zealand and overseas.
Sarah Frances Beamish is a British composer and violist. Her works include chamber, vocal, choral and orchestral music. She has also worked in the field of music, theatre, film and television, as well as composing for children and for her local community.
Spirit Voices is a concerto for percussion and orchestra in seven movements by the American composer Steven Stucky. The work was jointly commissioned by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival for percussionist Evelyn Glennie. It was first performed by soloist Evelyn Glennie the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under conductor Lan Shui November 14, 2003.
Paul Clarvis is an English percussionist.
Neil William Thomson is a British conductor and conducting professor.
The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra (MCO) is a chamber orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It offers an annual subscription series at Westminster United Church, which regularly features Canada's leading soloists, such as James Ehnes and Measha Brueggergosman, and Marc-André Hamelin. Other core MCO activities include recording, touring, and engaging extensive outreach in remote communities in northern Manitoba. Currently, Anne Manson serves as the MCO's Music Director, Karl Stobbe as its Concertmaster, and Vicki Young as its managing director.
Delphian Records is an Edinburgh-based independent classical record label, founded in 2000 by two students of the University of Edinburgh, Paul Baxter and Kevin Findlan with start-up funding from two private individuals, and support from the Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust.
UFO is a composition written by American composer Michael Daugherty for percussionist Evelyn Glennie.
Touch the Sound: A Sound Journey with Evelyn Glennie is a 2004 German documentary film directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer about profoundly deaf Scottish classical percussionist Evelyn Glennie. In the film Glennie, who won a Grammy Award in 1989, collaborates with English experimental musician Fred Frith and others, and explains how she perceives sound. The film appeared at over 20 film festivals across the world, and won several awards, including "Best Documentary" at the 2004 BAFTA Awards, Scotland.
Gillian Maitland is a Scottish marimba soloist, percussionist and composer.
Touch the Sound is a soundtrack by Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie of the 2004 documentary film Touch the Sound by German filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer about Glennie, who is profoundly deaf. It was released on CD in 2004 by German record label, Normal.
The Sugar Factory is a 2007 collaborative album by English experimental musician Fred Frith and Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie. It comprises material drawn from improvisations by Frith and Glennie recorded during the making of the 2004 documentary film Touch the Sound about Glennie, who is profoundly deaf. The album was released in 2007 in the United States by Tzadik Records as part of their "Key Series".
Strike Zones is a concerto for percussion and orchestra by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra through a grant by the John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund. It was first performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on October 4, 2001, by the percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the National Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Leonard Slatkin.
Conjurer: Concerto for Percussionist and String Orchestra is a concerto for a solo percussionist and string orchestra by the American composer John Corigliano. The work was jointly commissioned for the percussionist Evelyn Glennie by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Music Department (Lisbon), and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. It was given its world premiere by Glennie and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Marin Alsop in Pittsburgh on February 21, 2008.
The Aluphone is a tuned percussion instrument consisting of aluminum bells that are struck with a mallet to produce musical tones. In its standard configuration, the bells of the Aluphone are mounted on a frame, but it can also be played as a single handheld bell or as a stack of bells. The bells of the Aluphone are very durable, so they can be struck with a large variety of mallets, wands, or hammers depending on the tone that the musician seeks to produce.
Marjory Dougal was a highly respected and influential administrator and vice-president of the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra for thirty years.
Sound World is a UK music charity founded in 2018. Its motto is “Great music for everyone” and it works primarily in the fields of music education, music outreach, concert promotion and commissioning. Its patrons include Dame Evelyn Glennie and Armando Iannucci and it was founded by British composer Julian Leeks.
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