Paraorchestra: Touring for all

This article was originally published in our Autumn 2024 issue. Click here to subscribe to our quarterly print magazine and be the first to read our Spring 2025 issue features.

Touring can be as exhausting as it is exhilarating. The packed schedules, constant travel and distance from home are taxing on every musician to varying degrees. But for those who identify as disabled, touring in an environment and culture that is often fundamentally ableist, so unprepared and ill-equipped to accommodate different disabilities, can be doubly difficult. In an ideal future buildings, organisations and networks would be built with all users in mind, but until much-needed social change takes place, it is up to arts organisations and disabled musicians themselves to advocate for the support they need while on tour.

Of course, every musician is unique and so too are their access needs, so each touring experience will be entirely their own. Classical Music sat down with musicians from the Paraorchestra, a Bristol-based ensemble of disabled and non-disabled professional musicians, to learn about its members’ varied experiences. Having recently made their Proms debut and now set to tour their performance of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs to London, Manchester and Dublin this autumn, Paraorchestra players are familiar with the joys and challenges of touring as a disabled-identifying musician.

For viola player Tilly Chester who uses a wheelchair, a schedule already packed with rehearsals and performances is often made harder to cope with, ‘either directly because of my condition or because I am already exhausted from trying to navigate an inaccessible world.’ The necessities of travel – navigating stations, airports and hotels – can be a ‘nightmare’, and at venues, while the audience experience is becoming more accessible, there seems to be less enthusiasm for making the same changes backstage: ‘Often the solutions for performers seem like rushed afterthoughts and aren’t often particularly dignified’.

©Paraorchestra

Matthew Scott, who plays the clarinet with the Paraorchestra, is neurodivergent, with autistic spectrum disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit disorder. For him, potential discomfort on tour ‘is not just about the rehearsal and concert, but around the daily living requirements away from home in unfamiliar situations.’ When performing, it is the time after the concert which is most challenging, when ‘OCD issues around packing my instruments conflict with expectations for social interaction’.

In contrast, while vocalist and composer Rylan Gleave’s Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome means his joints are prone to painful dislocation, he describes his autism as a ‘huge bonus’ when touring. ‘I find it easy to focus entirely on being on tour from the second that I’m away, and fall into the routine very quickly now that I know what to expect,’ he explains. ‘I also love that, as I get to know people better on a long-form project, there are shorthands and jokes that develop that I genuinely understand. It feels socially a lot less performative than some of the one-off gigs that I’ve taken’. Similarly for Siobhan Clough, a violin and viola player with the Paraorchestra who is hearing impaired, the positive elements of touring far outweigh the negative. Although reoccurring ear infections mean she is often unwell on tour, ‘visiting new places, meeting new people and immersing yourself in new cultures is always a wonderful experience’.

So how can disabled-identifying musicians get the most out of touring? Clough finds comfort in being prepared. ‘There is no such thing as overpacking. If you pack with a worst-case scenario in mind, you’ll be covered when you hit the road.’ Gleave also takes precautions to ensure he can give his best performance every time. ‘I need to know my full schedule as far in advance as possible, so that I can start mentally preparing for the tour. Some of this preventative work is more in the way of mental preparation, which is harder on a long-form tour than a one-off gig, and can be isolating even if I’m surrounded by collaborators. Sometimes it’s more visible, like when I need to stretch carefully before a show, and you’ll see me sprawled in a corridor somewhere when backstage is full.’

For Chester, however, this detailed preparation can be hugely valuable. ‘In some ways my disability can give me an advantage when touring. Part of being disabled is that you always have to preplan things and look into every detail to figure out how it will work for you. I also have to have a backup plan, work really well under pressure and always expect the unexpected, so that helps too.’

With the right preparation, musicians can perform at their best, but this process of preparing, anticipating and adapting takes time and energy. ‘I don’t feel as though organisations always understand the amount of time and energy that it takes some disabled artists to be in the room,’ explains Gleave. ‘A tour of five days for me is actually closer to a ten-day commitment, including that prep and recovery, and that should be clear to an organisation. I really enjoy that whole process, but it does have a bearing on how much work I can agree to throughout the year.’

For Paraorchestra assistant producer Caitlin Fairweather the planning stage is also essential. She takes a granular approach, with each artist’s needs carefully considered. ‘Information gathering in the booking stage for venues is so important, and allows you the time to prepare and problem-solve in advance rather than when you are on site,’ she explains. ‘No venue will ever be perfect in terms of its accessibility for artists who identify as disabled, as no two people’s access requirements are the same. With this in mind, you should take into consideration each individual’s needs, and come to an agreement with the artist as to where adaptations, compromises or alternatives can be made to remove barriers and allow a smooth and enjoyable touring experience.’ Fairweather visits venues in advance (or, if a visit is not possible, requests videos of all the spaces the Paraorchestra will use and the routes between them) to collate practical information about all aspects of the artists’ experience, from accessible spaces and quiet areas to on-site parking for blue badge holders and accommodations for those with assistance dogs.

©Chris Cooper

The payoff for musicians is a tour they can enjoy rather than endure. ‘My experience of touring with the Paraorchestra has been very positive,’ confirms Scott. ‘In large part due to their detailed planning. With artist schedules for every event provided well in advance, they allow time to question and clarify any concerns, which reduces stress and anxiety in preparation for an event.’ The Paraorchestra’s 360° approach to pre- tour planning extends to travel too, with Fairweather booking station or airport assistance well in advance and ensuring any planned stops during road travel are suitable for the artists.

When booking a hotel, she considers every element of the experience, from self- service breakfast bars to fire evacuation procedures, but a lack of public awareness and education around disability and access means that even the best laid plans can go awry. Chester tells me about a trip to London where a hotel first allowed another vehicle to park in the Blue Badge bay she’d reserved, then gave her wheelchair accessible room to another resident.

Faced first with no way to safely get out of her car, then with a room where she was unable to even fit through the door, it took what Chester describes as ‘half an hour of somewhat heated discussion, where they also kept talking to my PA rather than directly to me’ before they ‘miraculously’ found the viola player a suitable room.

Depressingly, these confrontations are not rare for people who identify as disabled, and this element of a disabled musicians’ experience cannot be ignored when planning a tour. For Chester, ‘how people interact with you and whether they use inclusive language really affects the atmosphere of where you are working. If I’m made to feel like I’m causing a problem, don’t feel supported or am treated like a child then it’s really hard to perform well’.

©Rose Morelli

‘An iconic moment of inclusion’: When all the preparation falls into place, the Paraorchestra is able to share dynamic, enlightening performances

Responding to these situations is another example of the mental load disabled musicians carry while on tour (and in their everyday lives). ‘While it’s really easy to say, “advocate for yourself”, you need to find the way of doing it that actually works for you,’ advises Gleave. ‘This might be with a friend or mentor’s support, or written-only rather than verbal, or voice notes rather than emails. Ask for ‘silly’ things; if it helps you do your job, then it’s important. Even if organisers are awkward around disability, most of them do actually want to support you in your job and on tour. If you’re running an orchestra or touring group, you need to be crucially honest about what you can actually offer disabled artists. It’s okay to be on a journey as an organisation, and acknowledge that you have more to learn, but that transparency is vital from the beginning.’

When it comes to advocating for the Paraorchestra’s musicians throughout a tour, Fairweather advises calmness and clarity. When approaching situations where a venue or hotel has failed to make the requested accommodations, any justification for adaptation should be given ‘without providing any information the musician would not be comfortable with you sharing’. Most importantly, Fairweather makes sure that advocating for disabled artists is always respectful and in line with their wishes.

And when the research, packing, preparation, stretching, and advocacy all pay off? The Paraorchestra’s audiences are left spellbound. Clough described her experience as part of the orchestra’s The Anatomy of the Orchestra: Drone Refractions tour, which included a show at the ensemble’s home base, Bristol Beacon, as part of the 2024 Association of British Orchestra conference. ‘To be able to engage with those in a position of power in the sector alongside some of my young musicians from the Bristol National Open Youth Orchestra Ensemble meant more to me than I can put into words,’ she says. ‘An iconic moment of inclusion that all present were a part of and contributors towards.’

©Paraorchestra 

Gleave, whose newly commissioned work Straylight featured in the tour, found the experience similarly memorable, in part because his access needs were met without issue. ‘I have a wonderful support worker, Han, who accompanies me on unfamiliar or complex journeys, and they came with me to all of the shows,’ he recalls. ‘Han joined for all of the social elements too — the after-show drinks, the lunch breaks, backstage chat — and so seamlessly integrated into the Paraorchestra vibe. This gave me a new insight into how normalised having a support worker or PA can be on tour. It was a deeply profound experience for me as a composer, and a big part of that was knowing my access needs would be met even before the first rehearsal.’

So how can arts administrators and musicians – both disabled and non- disabled – help achieve this? We’ve looked at the importance of effective planning before a tour, ensuring the right travel and accommodation for every musicians’ needs and advocating for disabled artists when needed, but other practical steps can easily be integrated into the touring routine. As well as offering a guided orientation at each venue and setting a point of contact for artists’ queries and requests throughout the tour, Scott is particularly in favour of providing access riders at the time of booking.

Access riders are a scheme adopted by the Musicians’ Union and other performing arts organisations which follow the established format of a performer rider (a document stating an artist’s requirements for a performance) to outline an artist’s access needs. By inviting everyone to fill out a form upfront without having to ask for it, ‘you alleviate anxiety in asking for support,’ Scott explains. ‘If this form could be standardised industry- wide that would be greatly beneficial.’ An access rider also has the effect of keeping booking and access requirements separate so as ‘not to influence the fixers’. This risk of losing work can strongly influence how likely disabled musicians are to voice their needs. ‘It can be difficult to ask for help, out of fear of losing future work and being labelled “problematic”,’ says Scott. ‘Where in reality it’s often the smallest things that can make the biggest difference.’

Regardless of the access needs an artist might have, every musician should have the chance to share their talent, and should feel safe, comfortable and valued while touring, and it is up to arts organisations to support and advocate for their disabled- identifying members. For Fairweather the first step is always communication: ‘Never make assumptions based on any basic information you may already know; speak directly with the artist to get a good understanding of what they need’. And for disabled-identifying musicians themselves? For Chester it is all about mindset: ‘Don’t allow yourself to feel like your needs aren’t important, that they don’t need to be met or that you are worth less because of them.’