EVELYN GLENNIE – PERCUSSIONIST

3^rd December is International Day of Persons with Disabilities, with this in mind we have chosen Evelyn Glennie as our Diversity Champion for December.

Evelyn is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist.  She studied at Ellon Academy and the Royal Academy of Music, and was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.  She has been profoundly deaf since the age of 12, having started to lose her hearing from the age of 8.

Evelyn  is the first person in musical history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist.

She regularly plays barefoot during both live performances and studio recordings in order to feel the music better.  Evelyn contends that deafness is largely misunderstood by the public. She claims to have taught herself to hear with parts of her body other than her ears. In response to criticism from the media, Glennie published “Hearing Essay” in which she discusses her condition.

She takes part in over 100 concerts a year as well as master classes and “music in schools” performances; she frequently commissions percussion works from composers and performs them in her concert repertoire.  She also plays the  Highland Bagpipes and has her own registered tartan known as “The Rhythms of Evelyn Glennie”.  In 2012, she collaborated with Underworld at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games performing live in the stadium.

Evelyn was awarded an OBE in 1993 and became a Dame in 2007.

She has won many other awards, including:

• Best Chamber Music Performance in the Grammy Awards of 1989
• Scot of the Year 1982
• Queen’s Commendation prize for all round excellence 1985
• Scotswoman of the Decade 1990
• Best Studio and Live Percussionist from Rhythm Magazine 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 & 2004
• Walpole Medal of Excellence 2002
• Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year 2003
• Sabian Lifetime Achievement Award 2006
• Percussive Arts Society: Hall of Fame – November 2008