Birmingham Concert To Showcase One Handed Playing Of Musical Instruments

 A press release:

The accomplishments of musicians playing instruments with only one hand is to be celebrated at a special concert being organised by music disability charity, The OHMI Trust. 

Taking place on Saturday, 12th September 2026 at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the concert marks the charity’s 15th anniversary of helping musicians with an upper limb weakness, impairment or absence to play the musical instruments they want to play – whether that be through commissioning the research, design and manufacture of adapted instruments, making them available through the OHMI Instrument Hire Scheme (made up of over 400 adapted instruments and pieces of enabling equipment), or matching musicians with qualified teachers. 

The concert aims to showcase the art of the possible through a vibrant mix of repertoire and styles performed by OHMI Music-Makers of all ages, alongside RBC students and alumni. It will include one-handed performances on the flute, clarinet, recorder and piano, with performances on the trumpet and French Horn made possible with enabling equipment. 

Our talented musicians on the night will include: 

• Hungarian musician Edit van der Burg who will be flying in to join the performance. As a talented young musician, Edit suffered a significant brain injury after being knocked down by a car. Long-term OHMI friend and instrument maker, Maarten Visser invented, designed and built an adapted flute for Edit to enable her to play to her previous standard, despite having lost the use of one side of her body. There have been several improvements to the instrument in the years that followed, and an entirely new instrument created in 2007 which one Dutch flute-reporter described as “a Stradivarius with the looks of a Harley Davidson”.
• Teenage pianist, Freya Terris whose long-term injury and surgery left her unable to play with her right hand. She recently made history as the first person to pass ABRSM Grade 8 using only one hand.
• French Horn player, Chris Griffiths who has the condition Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), a neuropathy which affects hands and feet (and which led him to an elective bilateral amputation). Chris uses a French Horn stand to take the weight of the instrument (created by students at the University of Newcastle through a recent Hackcessible challenge).
• OHMI trustee, Liane Todd whose career as a peripatetic woodwind teacher was cut short after a serious accident whilst performing in a theatre pit orchestra. Now living with complex regional pain syndrome, a long-lasting condition affecting her entire left side, she has adapted her music-making by playing the one-handed clarinet. At around £6,000, the clarinet is one of the more expensive adapted musical instruments and is at the forefront of OHMI’s plans to find more cost-effective manufacturing methods such as 3D-printing.  
• One-handed recorder player Esther Mannouch who once feared radiotherapy damage to her hand would end her music-making. Her specifically designed instrument has, however, enabled her to continue playing and hosting concerts, many of which have raised funds for OHMI. 
• One-handed flautist Rebekah Goulston whose cerebral palsy affects her conventional playing of the instrument. She settled on the flute after doing her own research into identifying instruments to better represent disabled people at the highest levels of performance.
  
  

Emma Brown, a postgraduate research student at RBC and trustee of The OHMI Trust, said: “What better way to reflect OHMI’s unwavering belief that everyone deserves the opportunity to play, create and perform music to the highest level than by holding a concert at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire! We’re thrilled to have the support of RBC who are as passionate as we are about inclusion, excellence and future-facing musical practice. I’ll be playing on the night alongside the OHMI Music-Makers to celebrate the musical achievements of some of the individuals who have been supported by OHMI over the years, as well as to raise awareness of the adapted instruments and enabling equipment on offer from the OHMI Instrument Hire Scheme.”

Tickets for OHMI’s 15th anniversary celebration concert, priced at £15, can be booked on the RBC website. Proceeds will be used to support OHMI’s future work in supporting disabled musicians. 

The concert is one of OHMI’s ‘15 for 15’ fundraising events where concert and ensemble performers are invited to support and raise awareness of OHMI’s valuable work through their own events.