Evelyn Glennie

Scottish percussionist

Dame Evelyn Glennie

CH DBE

Glennie at Moers Festival 2004

Background information
Birth name| Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie
Born|  (1965-07-19) 19 July 1965 (age 59)
Methlick, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Occupation| Musician
Instrument| Percussion
Spouse|

Greg Malcangi

(m. 1994⁠-⁠2003)​

Website| evelyn.co.uk
Awards|

* Polar Music Prize (2015)
* Léonie Sonning Music Prize (2023)

Musical artist

Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann 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.

## Early life

[edit]

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]

## Career

[edit]

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]

## Deafness

[edit]

Glennie has been profoundly deaf since childhood, 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. 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]

## Collaborations

[edit]

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]

## Awards

[edit]

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Glennie's awards include:

* Royal Philharmonic Society's Best Soloist of the Year 1991
* Best Chamber Music Performance in the Grammy Awards of 1989
* Scot of the Year 1982
* Queen's Commendation prize for all round excellence, 1985
* Leonardo da Vinci International Art Award, 1987
* Scotswoman of the Decade, 1990
* Best Studio and Live Percussionist from Rhythm Magazine 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 & 2004
* Walpole Medal of Excellence, 2002
* Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music, 2002
* Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University, 2002 [21]
* Honorary Fellowship from Homerton College, Cambridge, 2016
* Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year, 2003
* Sabian Lifetime Achievement Award, 2006
* Percussive Arts Society: Hall of Fame – November 2008[1][22]
* Polar Music Prize, 2015[23]
* Best Classical Instrumental Solo in the Grammy Awards of 2014
* Léonie Sonning Music Prize, 2023[24]

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]

## Discography

[edit]

* Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion / Brahms: Haydn Variations for Two Pianos (Sony Classical, 1988)
* Rhythm Song (RCA Victor, 1990)
* Light in Darkness (RCA Victor, 1991)
* Evelyn Glennie | Dancin (RCA Victor, 1991)
* Rebounds: Concertos for Percussion (RCA Victor, 1992)
* James Macmillan: Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (Catalyst, 1993)
* Last Night of the Proms: The 100th Season (Teldec 1994)
* Wind in the Bamboo Grove (Catalyst, 1995)
* Drumming (Catalyst, 1996)
* The Music of Joseph Schwantner (RCA Victor, 1997)
* Evelyn Glennie: Her Greatest Hits (RCA Victor, 1998)
* Street Songs (RCA Victor, Red Seal, 1998)
* Reflected in Brass: Evelyn Glennie Meets the Black Dyke Band (RCA Victor, Red Seal, 1998)
* Shadow Behind the Iron Sun (Catalyst, 2000)
* Dave Heath: Africa Sunrise/Manhattan Rave (Black Box, 2001)
* Béla Fleck: Perpetual Motion (Sony Classical, 2001)
* UFO: The Music of Michael Daugherty (Klavier, 2001)
* Mark-Anthony Turnage: Fractured Lines (Chandos, 2002)
* Oriental Landscapes (BIS, 2002)[30]
* Christopher Rouse: Der gerettete Alberich / Rapture / Violin Concerto (Ondine, 2004)
* Michael Daugherty: Philadelphia Stories / UFO (Naxos, 2004)
* Philip Glass: The Concerto Project Vol. I (Orange Mountain Music, 2004)
* Margaret Brouwer: Aurolucent Circles / Mandala / Sizzle (Naxos, 2006)
* Touch the Sound (Normal, 2006) – soundtrack of the film of the same name
* Erkki-Sven Tüür: Magma (Virgin Classics, 2007)
* The Sugar Factory (Tzadik, 2007)
* Thea Musgrave: Turbulent Landscapes / Songs for a Winter's Evening / Two's Company (NMC, 2009)
* Experimental Percussion (Audio Network, 2009)
* Steven Stucky: Pinturas de Tamayo (BIS, 2010)
* Winter Wonderland (KPM Music, 2011)
* Ecstatic Drumbeat (BIS, 2012)
* Isles of Wonder (UMC, 2012)
* Cults Percussion Ensemble (Trunk, 2012)
* John Corigliano: Conjurer / Vocalise (Naxos, 2013)
* Altamira (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Virgin EMI, 2016) – soundtrack of the film of the same name
* LOVE, POLITICS, WAR | Yolanda Brown (Black Grape Records, 2017)
* THE SHAMAN | ARCTIC SYMPHONY: Orchestral Music by Vincent Ho (Centrediscs, 2017)
* Mirage? Concertos for Percussion (MCO Records, 2017)
* The Core-tet Project: Improvisations by Evelyn Glennie, Jon Hemmersam, Szilárd Mezei and Michael Jefry Stevens (Naxos, 2018)
* Dreamachine – Michael Daugherty (Naxos, 2018)
* Standard Time – Trio HLK (Ubuntu, 2018)
* Out of the Silence – Orchestral Music by John McLeod (Delphian, 2018)
* RSC Troilus and Cressida: Music and Speeches CD (RSC Recordings, 2018)
* Double Crossings (Audionetwork, 2018)
* One Day Band 17 with Roly Porter (Trestle Records, 2019)
* Reflections: one track – The Grace of Silence – (Sound World, 2021)

## Films

[edit]

* Touch the Sound (2004). Directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer, featuring a collaboration with Fred Frith. The farm where she grew up burned down during the production of the film, but her brother and the animals were unhurt.[31]

## Autobiography

[edit]

* Good Vibrations: My Autobiography[32]
* Listen World![33]

## Children's Book

[edit]

* Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion[34]

## Television appearances

[edit]

* ZingZillas (2010). Appeared in episode 19 ("Hide and Seek") playing tubular bells on the BBC channel CBeebies.[35] and in episode 50 ("Where's the Bug?") playing the waterphone.[36]
* Sesame Street (2001). Appeared playing percussion with Oscar the Grouch's Grouchketeer Trash Band.[37]

Performed a scene with Sesame Street regular Linda Bove.[38]

* 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony (27 July 2012), leading a 1,000-drummer ensemble performing And I Will Kiss.[39]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Lauren Vogel Weiss. "Percussive Arts Society: Hall of Fame: Evelyn Glennie". Pas.org. Archived from the original on 30 May 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
2. ^ Cornwell, Tim (13 May 2009). "Evelyn Glennie Interview: Nothing like this Dame". The Scotsman. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
3. ^ Campsie, Alison (24 January 2017). "Deaf musician Evelyn Glennie on finding new ways of listening". The Scotsman. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
4. ^ "Cults Percussion Ensemble". Trunkrecords.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
5. ^ "Evelyn – Services". Evelyn Glennie.
6. ^ "Evelyne – Commissions". Evelyn Glennie.
7. ^ "Tartan Details – The Scottish Register of Tartans". Tartanregister.gov.uk. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
8. ^ Landin, Conrad (23 April 2021). "'We've re-engaged with our creativity from within our own four walls' says Dame Evelyn Glennie". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
9. ^ "Dame Evelyn Glennie at ClassicFM.com". Classic FM. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
10. ^ "Percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie named new university chancellor". BBC News. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
11. ^ a b "PBS Interview". PBS. 14 June 1999. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
12. ^ Glennie, Evelyn (1993). "Hearing Essay". Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
13. ^ Glennie, Evelyn (February 2003), How to truly listen, TED, retrieved 2 June 2017
14. ^ "A Raucous, Riotous And Audacious Opening Ceremony". NPR. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
15. ^ "About the play – Troilus and Cressida – Royal Shakespeare Company". Rsc.org.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
16. ^ "Interview: Evelyn Glennie on her experimental new direction with Trio HLK". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
17. ^ "You searched for Hlk standaRd time | Evelyn Glennie". 12 July 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
18. ^ "Sound World lockdown music project's first single released". BBC News. 12 February 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
19. ^ "Lockdown album to support freelance musicians released". BBC News. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
20. ^ Culture, Arts and Entertainment. "Telegraph.co.uk". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 November 2007.
21. ^ "Heriot—Watt University Edinburgh & Scottish Borders: Annual Review 2002". 1.hw.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
22. ^ "PAS.org: News". Archived from the original on 14 April 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
23. ^ "Evelyn Glennie". Polar Music Prize. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
24. ^ "Evelyn Glennie receives The Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2023". Léonie Sonnings Musikpris. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
25. ^ "Dame Evelyn Glennie CH - Graduation - University of St Andrews". www.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
26. ^ "UK | Rod and Zara top New Year Honours". News.bbc.co.uk. 30 December 2006. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
27. ^ "No. 61803". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N27.
28. ^ "BBC Two – What Do Artists Do All Day?, Evelyn Glennie". Bbc.co.uk. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
29. ^ "Dame Evelyn Glennie, Ramy Essam and Tabu Osusa nominated IMC Five Music Rights Champions". International Music Council. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
30. ^ Andrew MacGregor (2003). "Music Review, Evelyn Glennie". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
31. ^ Pasles, Chris (9 September 2005). "To hear, one must truly listen". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
32. ^ Evelyn Glennie (3 May 1990). Good Vibrations: My Autobiography. Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-174305-2.
33. ^ Listen World!. Balestier Press. 2019. ISBN 978-1-911221-64-7.
34. ^ Shannon Stocker. Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion.
35. ^ "BBC – CBeebies Programmes – ZingZillas, Series 1, Hide and Seek". Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
36. ^ "ZingZillas – CBeebies". BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
37. ^ "Sesame Street: Evelyn Glennie Plays the Drums". YouTube.com. 20 February 2009. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
38. ^ "Sesame Street – Percussion Duet". YouTube. 18 January 2008. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
39. ^ Pasternack, Sofia (17 December 2012). "Evelyn Glennie on the Olympics Opening Ceremony". Tom Tom Magazine. Retrieved 11 December 2022.

* Lang, Harry (1995). Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 146–48. ISBN 0-313-29170-5.
* Toole, Darlene (1996). Living Legends. Butte Publications. p. 51\. ISBN 1-884362-13-3.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Evelyn Glennie.

* Official website
* Evelyn Glennie at TED
* "How to truly listen" (TED2003)
* Evelyn Glennie interview by Bruce Duffie
* 'Ep. 93: Evelyn Glennie, virtuoso percussionist' by Tigran Arakelyan

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Laureates of the Polar Music Prize

1990s|

* Paul McCartney / the Baltic states (1992)
* Dizzy Gillespie / Witold Lutosławski (1993)
* Quincy Jones / Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1994)
* Elton John / Mstislav Rostropovich (1995)
* Joni Mitchell / Pierre Boulez (1996)
* Bruce Springsteen / Eric Ericson (1997)
* Ray Charles / Ravi Shankar (1998)
* Stevie Wonder / Iannis Xenakis (1999)

2000s|

* Bob Dylan / Isaac Stern (2000)
* Burt Bacharach / Robert Moog / Karlheinz Stockhausen (2001)
* Miriam Makeba / Sofia Gubaidulina (2002)
* Keith Jarrett (2003)
* B.B. King / György Ligeti (2004)
* Gilberto Gil / Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (2005)
* Led Zeppelin / Valery Gergiev (2006)
* Sonny Rollins / Steve Reich (2007)
* Pink Floyd / Renée Fleming (2008)
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2010s|

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* Paul Simon / Yo-Yo Ma (2012)
* Youssou N'Dour / Kaija Saariaho (2013)
* Chuck Berry / Peter Sellars (2014)
* Emmylou Harris / Evelyn Glennie (2015)
* Max Martin / Cecilia Bartoli (2016)
* Sting / Wayne Shorter (2017)
* Metallica / Afghanistan National Institute of Music (2018)
* Grandmaster Flash / Anne-Sophie Mutter / Playing for Change (2019)

2020s|

* Anna Netrebko / Diane Warren (2020)
* Iggy Pop / Ensemble intercontemporain (2022)
* Chris Blackwell / Angélique Kidjo / Arvo Pärt (2023)
* Nile Rodgers / Esa-Pekka Salonen (2024)

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Léonie Sonning Music Prize Laureates

1950s|

* Igor Stravinsky (1959)

1960s|

* Leonard Bernstein (1965)
* Birgit Nilsson (1966)
* Witold Lutosławski (1967)
* Benjamin Britten (1968)
* Boris Christoff (1969)

1970s|

* Sergiu Celibidache (1970)
* Arthur Rubinstein (1971)
* Yehudi Menuhin (1972)
* Dmitri Shostakovich (1973)
* Andrés Segovia (1974)
* Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1975)
* Mogens Wöldike (1976)
* Olivier Messiaen (1977)
* Jean-Pierre Rampal (1978)
* Janet Baker (1979)

1980s|

* Marie-Claire Alain (1980)
* Mstislav Rostropovich (1981)
* Isaac Stern (1982)
* Rafael Kubelík (1983)
* Miles Davis (1984)
* Pierre Boulez (1985)
* Sviatoslav Richter (1986)
* Heinz Holliger (1987)
* Peter Schreier (1988)
* Gidon Kremer (1989)

1990s|

* György Ligeti (1990)
* Eric Ericson (1991)
* Georg Solti (1992)
* Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1993)
* Krystian Zimerman (1994)
* Yuri Bashmet (1995)
* Per Nørgård (1996)
* András Schiff (1997)
* Hildegard Behrens (1998)
* Sofia Gubaidulina (1999)

2000s|

* Michala Petri (2000)
* Anne-Sophie Mutter (2001)
* Alfred Brendel (2002)
* György Kurtág (2003)
* Keith Jarrett (2004)
* John Eliot Gardiner (2005)
* Yo-Yo Ma (2006)
* Lars Ulrik Mortensen (2007)
* Arvo Pärt (2008)
* Daniel Barenboim (2009)

2010s|

* Cecilia Bartoli (2010)
* Kaija Saariaho (2011)
* Jordi Savall (2012)
* Simon Rattle (2013)
* Martin Fröst (2014)
* Thomas Adès (2015)
* Herbert Blomstedt (2016)
* Leonidas Kavakos (2017)
* Mariss Jansons (2018)
* Hans Abrahamsen (2019)

2020s|

* Barbara Hannigan (2020)
* Unsuk Chin (2021)
* Pierre-Laurent Aimard (2022)
* Evelyn Glennie (2023)
* Emmanuel Pahud (2024)

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