Music connects all of us, and people can create on all levels: RNS Moves to make its London debut

RNS Moves

RNS Moves, the ensemble made up of professional disabled musicians and non-disabled members of Royal Northern Sinfonia, will make its London debut on 21 September at Kings Place, performing a programme that brings together renaissance choral music, contemporary minimalism and modern experimental.

Improvisation and experimentation lie at the heart of the ensemble, and their performance at Kings Place will see them pair works by Caroline Shaw, Philip Glass, James MacMillan, Julius Eastman and Terry Riley with Tallis and Purcell.

Clarence Adoo MBE co-founded the ensemble after a life-altering car accident left him paralysed from the neck down, meaning he could no longer hold his position as trumpeter in Royal Northern Sinfonia.  Following the accident, German composer-come-inventor Rolf Gehlhaar was asked to create a bespoke instrument for Adoo so that he could continue to play music. The result was the Headspace - an innovative MIDI wind instrument controlled by breath and head movements. Alongside the Headspace, accessible instruments within the ensemble also include the LinnStrument  - a touch based expressive MIDI controller - played by Charlotte Bott. 

The ensemble works hard to promote that it doesn’t matter if someone has a disability – music connects all of us, and people can create on all levels. It meets at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead several times a year to collaborate and create. They invite inspiring and pioneering artists to join them, to bring new perspectives,

The 25/26 season will also see RNS Moves' collaboration with Candoco Dance Company and a new partnership at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. 

Further information from the Glasshouse website.