伊芙莲·格妮（Evelyn Glennie）是音乐史上首位全职敲击乐独奏家。她曾与不同界别的乐人合作演出，像流行乐的比约、波比·麦法连、史汀、钢琴大师艾思、英皇合唱团、班卓琴手比拉·费里克等亦经常以独奏家身份与世界著名交响乐团同台演出。伊芙莲灌录了二十五张个人唱片，其中两张荣获格林美奖。她曾委约不少名家作曲，总共创作了一百六十首敲击乐独奏作品。伊芙莲曾经参与不少电视电台节目，包括《科技娱乐设计思想集》（TED）。
她对声音的独特看法，可见于名导演利达斯玛的电影《触摸声音》中。她亦是世界知名、广受欢迎的教育家和演讲者，推动积极人生，透过声音治疗沟通媒介的角度，探索的世界。伊芙莲亦涉猎其他创作活动。她与柯德克公司合作，设计了一系列珠宝。伊芙莲亲撰的自传《良好感应》亦一纸风行。伊芙莲荣获八十多项国际奖项，并因对音乐与教育贡献良多，先后获颁OBE与DBE勋衔。
我是偶然知道这位音乐家的。很高兴我没有错过她。她是一位失聪的英国古典乐打击独奏家。她和贝多芬的相同之处是：都是失聪，都是著名音乐家。和贝多芬不同的是，她更擅长演奏。听她的演奏，你会忘记她是一个失聪的人。音乐会牢牢地抓住你。
八岁的时候，她的耳朵开时变聋，到十二岁的时候已经全聋。但是她学会了600多种乐器，成为世界著名的打击乐器专家，大鼓，小鼓，木琴，风琴，各样的乐器她都会。但是Evelyn却听不到人们鼓掌声音，因为她是耳聋的，她虽然能演奏600多种乐器，但她自己却听不见。她根据不同打击乐器的震动不同，她是凭感觉来演奏的。所以她每次演奏之前，都先将鞋脱下来，这样她就可以感觉到乐器的震动。曾经人都说她学不会任何乐器，但是她坚持要学，就请她的老师打出不同的音符，然后她用手来感觉不同的震动。
现在她学习的方法，是用双腿的膝盖夹住音乐的录音带，感觉音乐的震动。她以优异成迹从伦敦皇家音乐学院毕业。毕业后的在专业上的成就，是令人难以置信的：她曾经在有95年历史的英国皇家音乐厅表演，她也在美国的肯尼迪中心表演过，后来她在洛杉矶好莱邬的表演也十分成功。她曾获1998年格莱美奖（室内乐最佳演奏奖）和《美国音乐》杂志2002年评选的年度最佳独奏家。即使是没有听力障碍的人，取得这样的成绩也是令人羡慕的。令人羡慕的是她的成功，令人敬佩的是她对音乐执著的热爱和她的投入与勤奋。
Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, DBE was born on 19 July, 1965 in Aberdeen. Dame Evelyn is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. Dame Evelyn was the first full-time solo professional percussionist in 20th century western society.
Dame Evelyn was brought up on a farm in Aberdeenshire near where she was born. Dame Evelyn’s father was Herbert Arthur Glennie, an accordionist in a Scottish country dance band, and the strong, indigenous musical traditions of north-east Scotland were important in the development of the young musician, whose first instruments were the mouth organ and the clarinet. Other major influences were Glenn Gould, Jacqueline du pr’e and Trilok Gurtu. Dame Evelyn studied at Ellon Academy and the Royal Academy of Music.
Dame Evelyn tours extensively in the northern hemisphere, spending up to 4 months each year in the United States, and performs with an extraordinarily wide variety of orchestras and contemporary musicians, giving over 100 concerts a year as well as master classes and ’music in schools’ performances. Dame Evelyn frequently commissions percussion works from composers and performs them in her concert repertoire. To date, these original works include 53 concertos, 56 recital pieces, 18 concert pieces and 2 works for percussion ensemble.
In a live performance she can use up to approximately 60 instruments. Dame Evelyn also plays the G Great Highland Bagpipes and has her own registered tartan known as ‘The Rhythms of Evelyn Glennie’。 Dame Evelyn is in the process of producing her own range of handmade jewellery and also works as a motivational speaker.
Dame Evelyn is the patron of many charities supporting a wide range of causes including the deaf and hard of hearing, young musicians and people with a variety of disabilities.
Dame Evelyn has been profoundly deaf – meaning that she has some very limited hearing – since age 12. This does not inhibit her ability to perform at the international level. Dame Evelyn regularly plays barefoot for both live performances and studio recordings, to better “feel” the music.
Dame Evelyn contends that deafness is largely misunderstood by the public. Dame Evelyn claims to have taught herself to hear with parts of her body other than her ears. In response to criticism from the media, Dame Evelyn published her now famous Hearing Essay in which she personally discusses her condition.
Dame Evelyn has also featured on Icelandic singer Björk’s album Telegram, performing the duet “My Spine” and she has collaborated with former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, Bela Fleck, Bobby McFerrin and Fred Frith.
On 21 November 2007, the UK government announced an infusion of £332 million just for music-education. This resulted from the successful lobby spearheaded by Glennie, Sir James Galway, Julian Lloyd Webber, and the late Michael Kamen; they formed the Music in Education Consortium in 2002/2003.
In 1994, Dame Evelyn married composer, sound engineer and tuba player Greg Malcangi, with whom she collaborated on several musical projects. They porced in 2003 following her widely-publicised affair with Leonard Slatkin.