A SELECTION OF REVIEWS & QUOTES FROM WORLDWIDE SOURCES

Percussionist Highlights Contrasts review in Kansas, Mar 08 - Kansascity.com

Read the latest review of the Percussionist who Shook the Pews in Winnipeg at Whats on Winnipeg

Read a review of the World Premiere in Pittsburgh of John Corigliano's TriplePlay in the Pittsburgh Tribune-review here

Percussion Program a ringing triumph for GSO, February 2008 - " Puts' composition was a perfect showcase for Glennie. She is a unique artist, and her mastery of the various percussive instruments is amazing. She lovingly and carefully explored and interpreted Puts' work, painting melodic colors with the vibraphone, marimba, glockenspiel and crotales". Ann Hicks, Greenville news

STRIKING: Percussionist's work dazzling, February 2008 - "Whatever the instument is, Glennie strikes it with mastery and unbridled relish. Our ears perk up and our bodies can't stop moving to all the infectious rhythm. the way she plays is so physical, involved and dazzling that it simply must be seen. Her stick work is often so breathtakingly fast and furious that it seems inspired by the late Tito Puente, a Latin-jazz artist with no equals." by Ken Keuffel, Journal Now.

'The World is a Drum for Evelyn Glennie', December 2007 - "creating a dazzling, dynamically subtle, atonal symphony of sound." Richard S. Ginell, Los Angeles Times.

Read reviews about the new 'The Sugar Factory' album here -
All about Jazz - November 2007
Boomkat.com
Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

The St Petersburg Times - "the sounds produced were like a lively dialogue in some exotic language", "Visiually Glennie is like a brilliant chameleon" - John Fleming, Times Performing Arts Critic .

Edinburgh Festival Review, August 2007 - "The sheer unexpectedness of it all was fascinating. This was a show in the vintage Glennie format. Centre-stage, bathed in multi-coloured light and a mystic glycerine fog and against the aural background shimmer of exotic percussion sounds, the glistening array of percussion instruments conjured up the expectant excitement of a rock concert. The house light dimmed, the star appeared and the show began. To hold the floor with such magnetism in pieces for solo maracas (a convulsively balletic performance of Javier Alvarez's Tamazcal), a solo side drum (Askell Masson’s' Prim), and a one-man-band version of Steve Reich's clapping music (on wood blocks) was an extraordinary feat of virtuosity and charisma." - Kenneth Walton, The Scotsman.

Daytona Beach recital review, July 2007 - "Her recital does not consist of plunking a few percussion instruments on the stage. Instead i is a total sonic and visual experience, with prerecorded music to put the audience in he mood, careful stage choreography, and artistically conceived lighting effects throughout he evening as the performer moves from set of instruments to another" - Arthur S. Leonard, Leonard Link, New York Law School

Daytona Beach recital review, July 2007 - "Glennie's recital was not only a superb display of virtuosity, but it was also a fresh approach to classical concert presentation, with vivid lighting and an electronic sound mix rich with reverberation. She would say a few words between pieces, but the program had a seamless quality that was mesmerizing. The centerpiece was a far-out work for percussion and tape called Temazcal by Javier Alvarez. Bathed in misty red light, Glennie played maracas as if in a trance, her movements frenzied amid a tumultuous electronic soundscape that ranged from eerie blips and bleeps to thundering white noise and feedback to a chirpy calypso tune." - John Fleming, St Petersburg Times

Daytona Beach concert with the LSO review, July 2007 - "There was more musical narrative in Glennie's tour de force, an arrangement for a battery of percussion of Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Glennie is a diminutive Scot who moves from marimba to vibraphone to xylophone to timbales to all the other percussion that surrounded her onstage with a kind of feral intensity and focus. She punctuated the frenzied Latin rhythms of the Bernstein score with dreamy renditions on marimba and vibraphone of Somewhere and Maria (accompanied by the dim rumble of thunder on a rainy night) in the 23-minute work. The orchestra, with no strings except for three double basses, was like a big band, trading jazzy licks with Glennie in an exciting take on the great American musical." - John Fleming, St Petersburg Times

Denver Concert January 2007 - “As she earnestly works through a million instruments, a zillion sonic effects, you simply can’t take your eyes off of her. Not that you’d want to. Playing each note as if it could be her last, Glennie is one of the world’s most dynamic performers. The fact that she is also profoundly deaf has now become a mere footnote to her extraordinary musicianship.”  - Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News

The ultimate pure prosodist, Her subtle soundscapes ranged from the Marimba to hitting the humble snare drum with such a range of sound colours that rhythm itself almost became music. The Advertiser. Adelaide, 2006

Glennie's intensely rhythmical playing flows through spry dancing movements and fleet transitions between instruments. Her virtuosity is as much a pleasure to watch as it is to hear. The Australian, 2006

It must be said ..... Evelyn Glennie puts on a heckuva show. New York Sun 2006

A striking visual as well as aural piece..... In addition to the highly choreographed physicality of Glennie's performance...... the sonic effects were riveting. Toronto Globe 2006

"The concerts start was so exciting that anything else would have seemed anti-climatic. Anything except Glennies account of the Schwantner Percussion Concerto". Ottawa Citizen 2006

At her spectacular solo recital in Santa Cruz, she played the part of charismatic hostess, offering an array of percussion hors d'oeuvres, one delectable goodie after the next: ``Evelyn Glennie Live'' - the title of her show, and it was a show, at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music - won me over with its beauty, occasional weirdness and incontestable musicality. San Jose Mercury News 2006.

....(Evelyn) gave Marin Alsop's vivacious Saturday night program an extra sizzle that brought the Cabrillo crowd to its feet more than once. Petite Glennie, made a delicious stir-fry of Kevin Puts' riotous Percussion Concerto, composed for her in 2005.......she returned with a solo tour de force, opening and closing with ominous portents on the orchestra. The huge solo cadenza demands a seamlessly paced accelerando and diminuendo which Glennie executed with superhuman precision. www.metroactive.com 2006

Glennie on stage is a marvel to watch. We can just marvel at how many nuances she can draw from a single drum or gong, how a rhythmic flourish in her hands takes on a life of its own, how the textures of the sounds she produces meld seamlessly with the other musicians'. It is simply musicality of the highest order.
Harvey Steiman - Seen and Heard International Festival Review – Aspen July 2005

An Evelyn Glennie concert is an unforgettable experience, as she moves with feline agility between the instruments, weaving magic patterns with energy and charm - Blackmore Vale Magazine.

Evelyn Glennie has to be one of the most exciting classical performers today
Henley Standard.

Evelyn Glennie is simply a phenomenon of a performer – New York Times.

She combines superb technical abilities, an extrodinary appreciation of the visual elements of percussion along with astonishing musicality to create performances of such stunning vitality that they almost constitue a new type of performance - Daily Echo, Bournemouth.

I have never heard a snare drum played like that in my life – Roger Newton, concert goer.

Here was a premier percussion soloist, one that could hold a large audience for 2 hours with just a marimba and selection of drums, pots and varied percussive artefacts – Derek Ansell, Newbury Weekly News.

Evelyn Glennie’s technique was astonishing, the music captivationg from start to finish – Wynn Rees, East Anglian Daily Times.

 If you've never experienced Glennie, you shouldn't miss her. If you've heard her before, chances are you already have your tickets - Washington Post.

Her energy and focus on a performance are total, pulling the audience completely inside her tactile vision of music – Thomas Goss, San Francisco Review.

Evelyn Glennie astounded her audience – Anne Hailes, The Irish News.

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