Sunday 4 November 2018, 7.30pm
Delighted to welcome singer, composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, to OTO for a rare performance alongside five-piece ensemble, Indigo Rising. After a twenty year absence, the Canadian trans artist has returned to the stage with a rich path of life in hindsight: on the back of a multi-layered career that has spanned Sesame Street to New Age synth masterpiece ‘Keyboard Fantasies’ and beyond.
“A classical singer. A multi-instrumentalist. A transgender artist. An experimental pioneer of electronic music. A children’s show composer and actor. A Buddhist practitioner. A psychotherapy co-counselor. A playwright. Throughout Beverly-Glenn Copeland’s extraordinary 74 years on this planet, he has pretty much personified multitudes.” – Le Guess Who
“Copeland's evergreen world still sounds wondrous and new, even 30 years on.” – Resident Advisor
Beverly Glenn Copeland, born into a family all of whom were very musical, essentially studied the classical piano repertoire from ‘cradlehood,’ listening to his father playing the piano four to five hours a day. He went on to study classical music at McGill, and then after a few years of concertizing - singing the European song repertoire - he suddenly felt called to write music that would weave all the different musical cultures he had come to love.
During his lifetime thus far, Glenn has written a large body of music for adults, music for film, four musicals for children, recorded six albums of his songs, and been the recipient of composition awards from the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, and Arts NB. His songs have been performed by various Canadian artists including Rita MacNeil and Jackie Richardson, as well as by the Toronto Pops Orchestra under the direction of David Warrack.
Concurrent with writing compositions for adults, Glenn wrote music for children’s television programs in England, Canada, and the U.S. He also had the wonderful opportunity to spend twenty-five years entertaining kids as a regular actor on the Mr. Dress-Up Show.
After many years of absence from the performing stage, Glenn has resumed concertizing with great joy and appreciation!
