The international conference on Music & Physical Disability will take place on 15 and 16 March at Birmingham City University's City South Campus; it is expected to attract musicians, music educators, instrument designers and instrument makers from across the globe.
It will explore barriers to music-making faced by people with physical disabilities, including the design and ongoing production of instruments to wide-ranging issues around performing. Presentations will include a demonstration of recently developed instrument designs. Among the contributors will be disabled musicians as well as instrument makers, academic researchers from many different disciplines, teachers, charities, funders, and government agencies.
The conference is being delivered by music disability charity The OHMI Trust, in collaboration with Birmingham City University and Imperial College London, and with sponsorship from The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM). It builds on the inaugural OHMI Conference in 2018, which attracted international representation and speakers from five continents.
Rachel Wolffsohn, OHMI’s general manager, said, ‘Our 2025 Conference will be a truly international affair. We have speakers from the US, Australia, mainland Europe and the UK presenting their groundbreaking work. Our overarching themes, which include digital music solutions and music education, are designed to appeal to a range of delegates beyond professional musicians whatever their interest in full inclusion in music-making.’
James Risdon, Access Lead at headline sponsor ABRSM (The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) added, ‘We recently announced our new exam repertoire lists for pianists playing with one hand at Grades 1 to 5. Featuring a broad range of music for left-and right-hand piano, including some exciting new commissions through our composer mentoring programme, this development has been made possible through the dedication of specialist consultants and the invaluable support of organisations such as OHMI. We're delighted to be headline sponsor for this important conference, which will help raise awareness of one-handed piano playing among both adults and children.’
Delegates at the conference will get the opportunity to hear internationally acclaimed classical pianist Nicholas McCarthy perform some of ABRSM’s new one-handed Performance Grade repertoire. The winners of the OHMI Competition awards – which are designed to stimulate further and more rapid developments over the coming years – will also be announced at the awards ceremony on the Sunday evening.
Tickets may be purchased on the OHMI Research Partnership website. An Early Bird Discount rate of £200, for tickets offering full access to Saturday and Sunday of the conference and to the Awards ceremony on Saturday evening, is available until Friday 14 February.
