Dame Evelyn Glennie receives Julian Bream Award

The Musicians’ Company has announced that Dame Evelyn Glennie has been named as the first ever recipient of the Company’s Julian Bream Award in honour of her of an internationally recognised instrumentalist’ who has contributed original and innovative work to the culture of their chosen instrument’,

The Julian Bream Award was established in 2023 to coincide with the 90th anniversary of English classical guitarist and lutenist Julian Bream and will be awarded every three years. The winner of this new lifetime achievement award must have achieved ‘significance’ in classical and improvised performance, pedagogy, instrument design, charitable engagement, repertoire expansion and the creation of new audiences through ‘inventive programming and collaborations’.

Dame Evelyn, who fulfils every criterion, said: ‘I am very humbled to be the first musician to receive The Julian Bream Award, and cannot thank The Musicians’ Company enough for bestowing this wonderful honour upon me. Any type of recognition allows time for reflection which in turn gives further impetus and vigour towards crystalizing the vision and actions of the future’.

The first person in history to sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist, Dame Evelyn is a double GRAMMY award winner and BAFTA nominee. She made history when she played the first percussion concerto in the history of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in 1992 and led 1,000 drummers in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. As well as premiering a new instrument, the Glennie Concert Aluphone, Dame Evelyn has also commissioned over 200 works as well as writing her own compositions.

Currently chancellor of Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, she received an OBE in 1993 and has over 100 international awards to date, including the Polar Music Prize, the Léonie Sonning Music Prize and the Companion of Honour. Dame Evelyn was also the first female president of Help Musicians and founded The Evelyn Glennie Foundation in 2023, which aims to improve communication and social cohesion by encouraging everyone to discover new ways of listening to inspire, create and empower.