Deaf Perspectives' Symposium: Innovations in Multisensory Music Research, explores classical music and Deaf audiences
Among those who presented on the day were cellist and founder of Music and Health Ireland Gráinne Hope, percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, flautist Ruth Montgomery and composer Dr George Higgs. There was also an interactive haptic workshop led by Music & Health Ireland. The event was ISL and BSL interpreted.
The Deaf Perspectives Symposium at DCU brought together Deaf artists, musicians, educators, interpreters, arts leaders, and access specialists to explore how Deaf communities experience, create, and shape music. The day foregrounded embodied listening, multisensory performance, haptic technologies, and inclusive music education.
Speaking about the symposium, Jane Hackett said
“I found the day to be immensely thought provoking and critically generative. It offered a diverse exploration of sound engagement across embodied and multisensory modalities, gathering a plethora of perspectives from the Deaf community and classical music organisations. The symposium’s research aims to challenge conceptions of music as an exclusively auditory artform, advancing an understanding of music as an inherently multimodal experience for everyone.
Placing the Deaf perspective at the heart of this research, we aim to support the cultural integration between Deaf and hearing audiences at the intersection of aesthetic classical music dissemination. Central to this approach is sustained collaboration with Deaf communities to co-develop strategies that can meaningfully reshape how music is both presented and created.
I look forward to many future Symposiums at DCU and would like to thank them for their support alongside the Arts Council of Ireland.”
About the organisers
Jane Hackett is an Irish violinist, creative director and inclusive multi genre artist specialising in classical and contemporary music. She holds BA and MA Performance degrees from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and the University of Limerick respectively and will begin her PhD at DCU in September 2026.
Lianne Quigley is a deaf Interpreter, deaf activist and deaf artist. She is chairperson of the Irish Deaf Society. She holds a BA in Business, Economics and Social Studies from Trinity College Dublin and a Certificate in Equality studies for Deaf People from UCD.
Omar Lorenzo García is an independent deaf dance artist and producer based in Dublin. He has worked as an actor and narrator in musical theatre, and as a dancer.
