Chris Wheeler
Ian Ritchie
Patrick Kenny
trombone, carnyx, conch shells
The Headspace Ensemble was named after Head=Space, an electronic instrument developed for Clarence Adoo by composer and sonic inventor Rolf Gehlhaar.
Clarence, a former professional trumpeter, was left paralysed from the neck down following a car accident in 1995. The subsequent HiNote instrument is a further development of Head=Space by Rolf and Vahakn Gehlhaar.
The Headspace Ensemble have since its conception been actively engaged in the commissioning of new music for this unique combination, including works by Nigel Osborne, Rolf Gehlhaar, John Kenny, Torbjörn Hultmark, Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian and Scott Lygate.
Since its conception the Headspace Ensemble have performed at the St Magnus Festival in Orkney, the Sage Gateshead, City of London Festival, Setubal Festival in Portugal and at the Cumnock Tryst Festival in Scotland.
Clarence Adoo and Head=Space were featured in the closing ceremony of the London Paralympics as well as at a TED-X presentation in Brussels. Further coverage includes a BBC filmed documentary about the group, and the Headspace Ensemble shared a sell-out collaboration with the Wynton Marsalis Quintet at the London Barbican in 2021.
In 1999, Carnyx Co. received funding from the Diageo Foundation to commission composer and sonic inventor Rolf Gehlhaar to develop a new musical instrument which would enable Clarence Adoo – a top trumpeter, left paralysed from the neck down following a car accident in 1995
– to engage with fellow performers at the highest professional level. This highly sophisticated and powerful electronic musical instrument was entitled Head=Space. Controlled by subtle movements of the player’s head, coupled with small but delicate and precise air columns, Head=Space gave Clarence Adoo a medium, through which he might learn to express himself as a high quality musician once again.
In 2005, after much practice and technical development, Head=Space received its first public airing at the St Magnus Festival on Orkney.
Festival Director, Ian Ritchie, had commissioned the Artistic Director of Carnyx & Co, John Kenny, to compose a piece for Head=Space. Kenny produced an ensemble piece encompassing
Head=Space (Clarence Adoo), trumpets & Flügelhorn (Torbjorn Hultmark), trombone & carnyx (John Kenny) and a sound projectionist (Chris Wheeler).
Since 2006 this group of artists has gone on to develop new repertoire under the name of HeadSpace Ensemble. Projects have included concerts and recordings at the St Magnus Festival, Orkney, Sage Gateshead, City of London Festival, a BBC documentary , two tours to Portugal.
The group has been featured at the Cumnock Tryst festival, directed by Sir James MacMillan, and at a sell-out collaboration with Wynton Marsalis at the London Barbican. in 2021 at the height of the Pandemic, HeadSpace Ensemble collaborated with composer Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian to create multi-media film collaboration,
“Cap-O-Rushes” which was premiered at the 2021 UK Culture, Health & Wellbeing International Conference. The group boasts a repertoire of specially composed music including works by Nigel Osborne, Rolf Gehlhaar, John Kenny, Torbjorn Hultmark, and Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian.
