Beverly Glenn-Copeland is set to play his first-ever Irish show. The pioneering trans musician headlines the Button Factory in Dublin on Tuesday, October 7, as part of his 2025 UK and EU tour.

Glenn-Copeland began his musical career in the 1960s and, in 1986, released the album that would eventually alter the entire course of his career. He created a 200-copy cassette run of Keyboard Fantasies, selling just a handful while the rest were put away into storage. However, in 2015, a Japanese record collector emailed the artist about selling the remainder, offering the project to a new generation of listeners who instantly became fans.

Following the belated success of the album, Glenn-Copeland embarked on his first European tour in his 70s. In 2021, he released Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined, featuring remixes with contemporary visionaries like Arca, Blood Orange, Julia Holter and Kelsey Lu. The journey of the record was also captured in a documentary by Posy Dixon.

2023 saw the release of The Ones Ahead, a new album featuring diverse songs with influences from American jazz, Irish fiddle, West African percussion, and more. Glenn-Copeland says he receives transmissions from the vibrations of the world around him, in what he calls the Universal Broadcasting System: “The UBS sends what it wants, and like a good servant, I listen and write what I am given.”

The Canadian musician went public about his gender identity in 2002 at the age of 58. He said the realisation came to him several years earlier when he was reading a book by a transgender man, in which he recognised himself.

He met his life partner, Elizabeth, in 1992, but they did not enter a romantic relationship until 2007. They married two years later in 2009.

Elizabeth is an accomplished writer, theatre artist and educator, and also a longtime creative collaborator of Glenn-Copeland’s. Now, the pair are preparing to perform together as they tour across the UK and the EU.

For a chance to hear the music of trans elder Beverly Glenn-Copeland live, tickets for the Dublin show are available here.

Did you know we have a team of wonderful runners taking part in this year’s Dublin Marathon and raising funds for GCN? You can support our athletes at this link.