Musical Vision: A Brief History of Music and Blindness with Lucas Harris & Michelle McQuigge

In May, 2023, the Toronto Chamber Choir presented its program “Musical Vision” about blind musicians and composers who did not let their visual disability prevent them from composing and performing great music. In this episode, Lucas Harris, Director of the Toronto Chamber Choir, and Michelle McQuigge, Concert Narrator, came on to talk with Naomi about how the concert came about, and some of the incredible things they learned during the research and preparation for the concert. The program included music from well known composers like Bach and Handel, both who had received “surgeries” from self-proclaimed eye surgeon John Taylor, as well as lesser known blind composers and musicians like Maria Theresia Von Paradis and Joachín Rodrigo. The concert took the audience through a historical “tour” of blind contributors to the musical canon, up to the modern period, and then featured a new piece by Toronto composer and pianist Michael Arnowitt. BALANCE was a proud partner on the concert, and is also proud to partner on the follow up fundraising concert on June 5, 2024.

If you would like to weigh in on this topic, send us an email at livingblindpodcast@balancefba.org.

Follow BALANCE for Blind Adults on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Follow Michelle McQuigge on Twitter, and Lucas Harris on his website.

⁠Donate⁠ to BALANCE

Resources:

Past Concerts: 2022–23: A Season of Musical Vision

Musical Vision: A Brief History of Music & Blindness (Text only version (for screen readers)

Musical Vision: A Brief History of Music & Blindness (Large Print Version)

Musical Vision: A Brief History of Music & Blindness (Formatted Booklet with Images)

Learn more about the TCC 2024 Fundraiser, featuring more from blind composers.