Evelyn Glennie

Evelyn Glennie stands as the leading solo percussionist worldwide and the first to pursue the role on a full-time basis. Through her efforts, she advanced the standing of percussion instruments in solo contexts, having requested more than 200 new compositions for herself. Extensive press coverage has centered on her deafness, yet her broad range of repertoire and recording activities also distinguishes her work.

Born July 19, 1965, in Aberdeen, Scotland, Glennie started piano lessons at age eight and took up the clarinet shortly afterward. Hearing loss began around the same time, reaching profound levels by age twelve. At that point she joined the percussion section of her school orchestra and pursued timpani studies, developing techniques with her instructor to detect vibrations through physical sensation. In 1982 she entered the Royal Academy of Music in London to study percussion, timpani, and piano, becoming the first student there to present a percussion recital or concerto. Her professional debut took place in 1985, followed by another milestone in 1992 when she became the first performer to present a percussion concerto at The Proms.

Beyond appearances with classical groups, Glennie has expanded the solo percussion repertoire by commissioning over 200 new pieces by 2020. Major composers have created works specifically for her, among them James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni Emmanuel, Michael Daugherty’s UFO, Chen Yi’s Percussion Concerto, and Thea Musgrave’s Journey Through a Japanese Landscape. One of her recordings is the 2006 Naxos release featuring Aurolucent Circles and additional pieces by Margaret Brouwer.

She moves fluidly across genres, collaborating not only with leading European and American orchestras but also with the Kodo Japanese drummers, Icelandic pop vocalist Björk, Javanese gamelan groups, Brazilian samba bands, and musicians across five continents. The 2000 album Shadow Behind the Iron Sun realized her wish to work with a pop producer, enlisting veteran engineer Michael Brauer; the project highlighted her extensive instrument collection, which exceeds 2,000 pieces and incorporates both homemade devices and global sounds. In 2018 she appeared on the Delphian recording Out of the Silence: Orchestral Music by John McLeod as well as two Naxos releases, Michael Daugherty: Dreamachine; Trail of Tears; Reflections on the Mississippi and The Core-tet Project.

As a composer, Glennie has created scores for film and television together with Greg Malcangi, who also works as a web designer. She performs on the Great Highland bagpipes. Her honors include the title Scotswoman of the Decade, a Grammy Award for her 1989 recording of Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, and appointment as Officer of the British Empire at age twenty-seven—an uncommon distinction for anyone under fifty. In 2007 the honor was elevated to Dame Commander (DBE).

Glennie omits references to her deafness in promotional materials, preferring to describe herself as a musician with a hearing impairment. Although profoundly deaf and unable to comprehend speech, she registers certain sounds, which her tactile sense further amplifies. Vibrations register differently across her body, with lower frequencies felt in the legs and feet and higher ones on the face, neck, and chest. She maintains that hearing functions as a form of touch and that auditory processing varies for each individual, whether labeled “deaf” or otherwise. Her autobiography, Good Vibrations, was published in 1990.