Evelyn Glennie British percussionist and composer Date of Birth: 19.07.1965 Country: Great Britain

Biography of Evelyn Glennie

Evelyn Glennie, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, is a British percussionist and composer. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest solo percussionists of the 20th century and the number one percussionist in the world. Glennie was born on July 19, 1965, in Aberdeen, Scotland. She spent her childhood on a farm in Aberdeenshire that belonged to her family. Her father, Herbert Arthur Glennie, was a skilled accordionist in a small local country group. As a result, Glennie grew up surrounded by the authentic traditional music of the northeast of Scotland. From a young age, she learned to play the harmonica and the clarinet.

From an early age, Glennie concealed her hearing loss in order to continue pursuing her love for music. By the age of 12, she had lost 90% of her hearing. However, this did not prevent her from continuing to pursue music and achieve great success. She had to retrain herself and focus on playing percussion instruments. Glennie personally believes that her hearing loss does not hinder her at all; on the contrary, it helps her to better appreciate the beauty of music. She admits that she has learned to perceive music through her body, which is why she always performs barefoot to better feel all the vibrations produced by the instrument. In response to various criticisms from journalists, Glennie wrote the famous essay "Hearing Essay," which has been translated into many languages. In the essay, Glennie personally discusses her condition.

Glennie's development as a musician was significantly influenced by renowned figures in the world of music, such as Glenn Gould, Jacqueline du Pré, and Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu. After graduating from Ellon Academy in Aberdeen and the Royal Academy of Music in London, Glennie pursued a solo career. In 1988, she released her first recording, Béla Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, which earned her a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance the following year. The recording also featured Murray Perahia, Georg Solti, and David Corkhill.

Following her overwhelming success, Glennie began to experiment. During her time at the Royal Academy of Music, she learned to play not only classical percussion instruments but also a variety of other exotic instruments. Her repertoire includes adaptations of classical works as well as compositions by contemporary composers such as John McLeod, Nebojsa Jivkovic, Keiko Abe, and many others, many of whom wrote specifically for Glennie. In 1990, Glennie published her autobiography, "Good Vibrations."

In 1994, Glennie collaborated with Björk on her remix album, "Telegram," and performed in concerts with former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and Sting. That same year, she married musician and composer Greg Malcangi, with whom she lived for nearly nine years. Glennie and Malcangi divorced in 2003 after their previous relationship with conductor Leonard Slatkin was exposed by the tabloid press.

Today, Evelyn Glennie lives a hectic life, performing in a hundred concerts a year. She spends four months in the United States and also conducts numerous masterclasses in schools, participates in various performances, and continues to collaborate with renowned musicians and composers on new compositions.