Out and About: Dame Evelyn Glennie in Conversation at Cowdray Hall

There’s a pleasing circularity to this one. The Cowdray Hall is celebrating its centenary, and among the events marking the occasion is an evening with Dame Evelyn Glennie, who gave her first ever solo performance on that same stage. She was eight years old, selected as the highest-scoring Grade 1 piano candidate in Aberdeenshire, and the programme is still in existence, held as part of her collection.

She’ll be in conversation with journalist Fiona Stalker, covering a career that has taken her from Ellon Academy and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland to the Royal Albert Hall, where in 1992 she performed the first percussion concerto in the history of the Proms, opening the door for orchestras worldwide to programme the form. She holds two Grammy awards, a BAFTA nomination, and a collection of nearly 4,000 percussion instruments. Since 2021, she has been Chancellor of Robert Gordon University.

Listening as a discipline

Glennie has always positioned her work as being about more than performance. Her 2003 TED Talk and the documentary Touch the Sound explored how she experiences music through her whole body, having lost most of her hearing as a child. The Evelyn Glennie Foundation, launched in 2023, extends that thinking into a broader mission around communication and social cohesion.

“The Cowdray Hall has always held a special place in my heart,” she said, “for the sense of history and community it brings to every event. It’s a cornerstone of Aberdeen’s cultural life.”