Ruairi Glasheen is an award-winning percussionist, composer, filmmaker and educator based in London. Drawn by the limitless creativity and possibilities of being a percussionist, and indeed a love of drums and percussion from all around the world, Ruairi studied as a scholar at The Royal College of Music graduating with 1st Class Honours and recipient of the Presidents Award in 2013.
Since graduating, Ruairi has led a truly diverse career in music. In 2019, after a successful Kickstarter campaign, Ruairi released his first documentary, Hidden Drummers of Iran. The film made the official selection at SoundTrack Cologne and the San Francisco Iranian film festival and won the jury prize at Italy’s Sonic Scene Festival. In 2022 the film was acquired for broadcast by SVT has also been featured on BBC News and CNN Inside the Middle East. Ruairi’s next documentary project Hidden Drummers of India was released in 2020 independently and to date has over 800,000 view on YouTube. The series and was featured in the Irish Examiner, Times of India and by Cerys Matthews on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Ruairi has performed as a percussionist across numerous genres all over the world. He has performed with John Williams at the Globe, for five thousand school children at the Royal Albert Hall and other prestigious venues such as Kings Place, The Sage, Ronnie Scotts, The Purcell Room and the BBC Proms (broadcast on BBC Radio 3). Ruairi has worked and recorded with numerous artists including Evelyn Glennie, Roo Panes, DJ Yoda, Sam Lee, folk duo Josienne Clark and Ben Walker, The Multi-Story Orchestra and in 2019 joined the London cast of Come From Away at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End. Ruairi has composed and directed a number of productions for Chickenshed Theatre Company including We Are All Born Free for Amnesty International. The title song for this production has been performed for numerous Amnesty events including the Dali Lama’s visit to London.
Passionate about social inclusion and wellbeing through the creative arts, Ruairi has worked with numerous leading organisations such as the BBC, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal College of Music, Wigmore Hall, English Touring Opera, London Music Masters, Live Music Now, The Horniman Museum and Kew Gardens as a project leader, presenter, composer, and music director.
