Dialogue on Disability

British pianist Nick van Bloss, is one of only a few concert pianists in the world diagnosed with severe, non-swearing Tourette Syndrome.

Composer and conductor John Rutter is beloved among choral singers all around the world for his church music and other choral pieces including a large number of Christmas carols.

By the 1920s and 30s French musician Maurice Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer.

Joyce has an impaired left hand as the result of a childhood car accident. She holds composition degrees from Juilliard School of Music, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherlands, and Yale University.

Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie began her musical life with the piano and the clarinet and was heavily influenced by the indigenous musical traditions of north-east Scotland.

At age six, Valerie contracted a severe streptococcal infection which took her sight, but that did not stop her from pursuing the music she loved.

Described as a child prodigy and a living legend, Australian pianist David Helfgott is the inspiration behind the Academy award-winning movie Shine, which depicts his struggle with mental illness.

“Accessibility is not an act of charity,” Adrian told an audience in Boston, where he is now an orchestra conductor at the Conservatory Lab Charter School. “It’s one of lifting the ceiling of potential development so that all children can explore this world, but also possibly create new ones.”

Paraorchestra is redefining what an orchestra should be.

Brazilian pianist João Carlos Martins had not played with 10 fingers since he lost the use of his hands due to injury and chronic disease.