Episode 6 of the Rhythms of Access podcast features Robin Hahn.

Robin is a joyfully disabled operatic soprano, stage director, music educator and disability advocate who has performed on stages around the world, from Germany to New York to Disneyland. Hailed as “sublime, with a beautiful resonant soprano full of colour” (Opera Canada), her recent performances include appearances as Ms Pinkerton in The Old Maid and the Thief; Nella in Gianni Schicchi; Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors; and as a soloist with the Music of the Night national concert tour.

As a stage director, Robin’s productions are recognized for reinterpreting and updating heteronormative stories, as well as for providing accessible theatre experiences for disabled audiences and performers alike. Most recently, she has directed queer, disabled, and covid-cautious productions of The Old Maid and the Thief; Hansel and Gretel; and The Pirates of Penzance, for which she was a winner of the 2024 Ovation Award in Outstanding Artistic Achievement for “bold inclusivity casting and artistic risk-taking”.

In 2011, Robin co-founded Opera Mariposa, Canada’s only 100% openly disability-led and -run opera company, and now works with arts organizations of all types to make their spaces, facilities, resources, and events more accessible and inclusive. She is a YouTuber and Instagram creator, making fun, educational content about the intersections between opera and disability. She is represented by Kello Inclusive, and can next be seen in the Lower Mainland starring as Hanna in The Merry Widow with Crescendo Operatic Society this June. Connect on all socials: @robinhahnsopran

https://linktr.ee/robinhahnsopran

Based in Toronto, Ontario in Canada, Diane Kolin is a French-born Canadian singer, a music educator, and a voice teacher. Her low voice brings her to explore various genres, from jazz to Baroque music and French chanson repertoire. She teaches voice to children and adults. She developed pedagogical tools and workshops for singers with disabilities to learn how to sing with a changing body or from a non-standing position. She collaborates with multiple artists groups, from choirs to orchestras. She is a professional member of RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professional with Disabilities), and of the Recording Academy. She frequently performs in North America and Europe. Diane is the founder of ArtsAbly, a company offering diverse activities related to accessibility and disability in the arts, including workshops, lectures, and free resources. She is also a musicologist, in the final stage of her PhD in musicology at York University, Toronto, Canada. Her dissertation focuses on professional musicians, composers, and music specialists with disabilities, from historical, sociological, and educational points of view. You can find her on Instagram at @dkolin!

Episode 4 of the podcast features a pioneering disabled artist, John Kelly. John has broken new ground and continues to encourage change through his music, practice and collaboration with others. He identifies strongly as a Disabled Person. He has performed many gigs, 2 major Paralympic events and toured internationally with the brilliant Extraordinary Bodies circus company and Graeae Theatre Company, completing 9 tours. John has worked with technologists and luthiers to design and build his bespoke guitar, the Kellycaster. This has added to his distinct style both in his live performance and his songwriting. John Kelly is writing new material and out on the road again in 2025.

Episode 3 features Sean Lee, the Director of Programming at Tangled Arts + Disability Gallery in Toronto, Canada. Sean (he/they) is an artist and curator exploring the assertion of disability art as the last avant-garde. Orienting towards a "crip horizon", his practice explores the transformative possibilities of access aesthetics as an embodied politic that can desire the ways disability disrupts. Sean has been working at the intersection of art and disability for the last decade, adding his insights and perspectives to conversations across Canada, the US, and internationally.

Episode 2 features Jo-anne Cox. Jo-anne is a creative performer/composer based in London, UK. As well as performing solo, she collaborates with artists and musicians, playing with bands and ensembles. She is a composer of seriously sensuous work for electric cello who loves cross-artform collaboration and audience interactive performance. Her unique work to date spans across electronic, experimental, folk and contemporary classical music. She draws audiences into her sonic worlds through intimate and alluring performances, combining looping, beats, fx and melody lines.

Rhythms of a Access is a podcast featuring disabled musicians and creative professionals in conversation with host Gift Tshuma. This episode features Miss Jacqui, a multi-talented artist who is known for her powerful poetry and soulful music. As a wheelchair user herself, she has faced many challenges and obstacles throughout her life, but Miss Jacqui has never let those challenges define her. Instead, she has used her experiences to become an advocate for people with disabilities and a voice for those who may not have one.