The pioneering trans composer Beverly Glenn-Copeland has been announced for a debut Irish gig.
Beverly Glenn-Copeland will play a long-awaited Dublin show on Tuesday October 7th this year at Vicar Street.
Glenn-Copeland was rediscovered when the 1986 album Keyboard Fantasies was reissued in 2017.
The album’s new age ambience was years ahead of its time, and there’s a documentary of the same name worth watching about Beverly’s story.
Glenn-Copeland was diagnosed with dementia last year.
The show is part of a series of UK and EU dates.
The tour will see Glenn-Copeland perform tracks from his acclaimed 2023 album The Ones Ahead as well as fan favourites from across his storied career, accompanied by his wife, theatre artist and musical producer Elizabeth Copeland.
TICKETS
Tickets for the seated Vicar Street show go on sale: Friday, 6 June at 12pm via Ticketmaster.ie priced at €49.50 plus fees.
Door 18:30pm | Show start 20:00 | No support
Beverly Glenn-Copeland UK + EU Tour:
- Thursday 2 October – Edinburgh – The Queen’s Hall
- Tuesday 7 October – Dublin – Vicar Street
- Friday 10 October – Cardiff – Llais Festival at Wales Millennium Centre
- Wednesday 15 October – London – Hackney Empire
- Sunday 19 October – Manchester – Aviva Studios
- Wednesday 29 October – Brussels – Ancienne Belgique at KVS
About Beverly Glenn-Copeland
Glenn-Copeland began his musical career in the 1960s when he studied classical singing at Montreal’s McGill University and performed at Expo 67. A pair of self-titled, multi-genre albums released in the early ’70s showcased his powerful voice and songwriting talent. In 1986, while living in rural Ontario, Glenn-Copeland taught himself to use digital synthesis and recorded the album that would ultimately alter the entire course of his career. At the time, he self-released Keyboard Fantasies via a 200-copy cassette run, selling just a handful while the rest waited in storage. In 2015, a Japanese record collector emailed Glenn-Copeland about selling the remainder; a new generation had unearthed his art. The music spread globally, and a few years later, in his 70s, Glenn-Copeland embarked on his first European tour to share his songs with live audiences, a journey captured in Posy Dixon’s 2019 celebrated documentary Keyboard Fantasies.
Since Keyboard Fantasies’ rediscovery, a new generation of listeners and artists have embraced Glenn-Copeland’s music. In 2021, he released the remix album Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined, which featured reimagined versions of the album’s songs from contemporary visionaries such as Arca, Blood Orange, Julia Holter and Kelsey Lu. More recently, having been blown away after seeing him perform live in Stockholm, Romy from The xx sampled Glenn Copeland on her single “Enjoy Your Life”. Glenn-Copeland also recently collaborated with Sam Smith on a new recording of his classic song “Ever New” for the Red Hot Org “Transa” album, released last year.
As his work has spread its inspiration, Glenn-Copeland has continued to develop his own prismatic musical practice. The songs on 2023’s The Ones Ahead draw from a wealth of traditions, from American jazz to Irish fiddle songs to West African percussion. Some, like ‘No Other’ and ‘Stand Anthem’, were originally born as parts of song cycles and stage plays. Glenn-Copeland writes with an ear to what he calls the Universal Broadcasting System, receiving transmissions from the vibrations of the world around him and faithfully transcribing them. “The UBS sends what it wants, and like a good servant, I listen and write what I am given”.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
