Evelyn Glennie, Solo Percussionist

Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie is a worldly renowned percussionist. She became profoundly deaf at the age of 12. She performs with a wide variety of orchestras and contemporary musicians, giving over 100 concerts a year as well as master classes and "music in schools" performances. Evelyn has collaborated with Björk's, Steve Hackett, Bela Fleck, Bobby McFerrin, Fred Frith, Mark Knopfler or The King's Singers to name but a few. Born and raised in Aberdeenshire in Scotland, to a family with a rich musical heritage, Evelyn had started playing the piano when she first began to lose her hearing, aged only eight.

When she lost her hearing she discovered percussion, and realized she was, in fact, a sound creator first and foremost, then a musician, then a percussionist.

From that realization, the notion of opening up the body like a huge ear became the key for her to digesting sound. It helped her to truly learn how to listen with her whole body. As a performer at an international level, her deafness  does not inhibit her ability to perform. She regularly plays barefoot during both live performances and studio recordings since it helps her to feel the music better.

Life is my inspiration. As an artist one has to observe and it’s often the tiniest or most mundane things that suddenly become interesting. In many ways we have to make the ordinary extraordinary.

Photo: Beta Bajgart