POWER OF PERCUSSION
Legendary musician plays with RSO
SCHEHERAZADE Regina Symphony Orchestra with Dame Evelyn Glennie
When: 8 p.m., Sept. 23
Where: Conexus Arts Centre
Dame Evelyn Glennie has fashioned a groundbreaking career as a solo percussionist and her talent will be on display Saturday night when she joins the Regina Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Scheherazade.
The program is the opening event for the Masterworks Concert Series and will feature the critically acclaimed Glennie. Conducted by RSO music director Gordon Gerrard, the performance will include Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Vincent Ho’s The Shaman and John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine.
With more than 90 international awards to date — including the Polar Music Prize — Glennie is also the first person in history to successfully create and sustain a fulltime career as a solo percussionist. It should also be mentioned that Glennie has been profoundly deaf since the age of 12.
Having been taught to hear with parts of her body other than her ears, Glennie’s shows are truly unique, magical and exotic.
“All I ask is for the audience to keep an open mind as sometimes the sheer amount of multi-percussion instruments on stage may become a distraction,” said Glennie via email.
“The Shaman, Vincent Ho’s Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, is an absolute wonder of a powerhouse work.”
If there’s one thing Glennie knows it’s percussion and percussion instruments. She has a private collection of more than 2,000 items, which are kept at home and at her office.
“I’m always in pursuit of items for my percussion collection, which I hope will add to my legacy,” says Glennie. “That said, I’m hoping to discover unique percussion instruments in Regina.”
With more than 30 solo album recordings to her name, Glennie has worked with a number of artists
— including Bjork — but her bucket list includes collaborations with Eminem and Kate
Bush.
“Their music fascinates me and I think it’s very important to work with people who have a very different approach to music from my own,”
Glennie says.
“It is my motto to pursue challenges and push boundaries.”
Aside from music, in the last few years, Glennie has been working on a project that is not only an inspiration, but is also close to her heart.
“I’ve been working (on) putting together a centre that will bring together my legacy and beliefs, a place to offer people access to experiences and alternative perspectives concerning the nature of listening,” explains the 52-year-old Glennie, who was born and raised in Scotland and now resides in England.
“A centre that will create a venue for events, which will be provided by a range of experts, and a space for the public to engage with sensorial learning experiences. I want this centre to deliver the best possible environment for people to deconstruct the act of listening in order to understand what it really involves. We all need to realize why listening amounts to more than hearing.”