Adam Hanus is 15 years old and plays the trumpet. At the age of 2, he underwent surgery at the Sant Joan de Deu Hospital in Barcelona. He is deaf. He had cochlear implants. Since then he can hear.
One of the tasks of Dr. María Antonia Claveria was to follow up on these kids who had surgery and implants. During years of medical treatments they also talked about their lives. It was during one of these talks when one of the kids told him that he had started playing the trumpet. Over time another told him that he played the guitar. Later another the battery… “This is not normal, we have to do something, This has to be known!”María Antonia said to herself.
The protocol that is followed with those implanted includes hard work so that they acquire the language. Language, what no one thought of was to think about make music.
“I started playing because my mother made music. I started at 8 years old with the trumpet” says Adam.
The doctor says that the Deafness is an invisible disability, hence their efforts to make it visible. He spoke with the hospital about the possibility of organizing a concert for these implanted kids, but things didn’t come together. Time passed and María Antonia couldn’t get the idea out of her head. One day at a meeting with the Gaes Solidaria Foundation he brought up the topic and it caught on. They joined forces and successfully organized a concert at the hospital in 2019.
“We wanted to show that anyone with a hearing disability can do things. Maybe we have to make more efforts but we can get there,” says Adam.
The stalls were full and among the audience was Jordi Cos, president and viola player of the Vallés Symphony Orchestra. At the end of the concert, he joined the initiative. “Jordi told us that this couldn’t stay like this,” María Antonia recalls. And that’s how the orchestra of cochlear implants that came together to give a concert at the hospital where they were being treated ended up becoming the Graeme Clark Youth Orchestra in honor of one of the pioneers of the cochlear implant.
The concert was also important because among the audience were recently implanted children with their families. “The children in the orchestra were an example that with treatment they could not only speak, but even play an instrument. It is an orchestra that strengthens and empowers after all the effort they put into the treatment”says María Antonia.
“This orchestra is a lesson that they are giving of improvement, of maturity, of development despite the difficulties,” defends Jordi, its director. “How I face this disability and how I overcome it. They have a capacity for self-improvement that other children do not have.”.
Thanks also to the support of the Gaes Solidaria Foundation, the orchestra continued with music teachers who adapted to your needs.

“Playing improves my attention, paying attention to what note comes out, your way of listening,” says Adam. “It’s different to play if you don’t have a hearing disability. I have had difficult times studying the trumpet because it was very complicated. When you play you have to know if it is in tune and what note it is exactlybut through an electronic device (the implant) it is very difficult. You only know if we’ve been there for years. Over time you get used to it and now it’s not so difficult for me, although I still have difficulties.”
The orchestra’s repertoire includes songs such as Guantamera, Hallelujah either We are the champions (their motto). “Me I would like to play classical songsbut you need about forty violins and we don’t have them,” says Adam.
Adam notices in his life the discipline that music has instilled in him. “This helps you in your studies. Furthermore, I think it opens your mind to different points of view because when I talk to colleagues who make music, it is obvious that they do not have the same opinion on things as others.”
The Vatican
With the pandemic, the orchestra was left in a prolonged silence. But María Antonia did not forget and thought that The best thing would be to come up with something to come back in a big way. and thus return the enthusiasm to all participants in the project. Once again he had the support of the Gaes Foundation for what turned out to be his most (apparently) crazy project.
It occurred to him to write to the Pope. And he answered him. This is how the orchestra ended up giving a concert in St. Peter’s Square. “When the concert ended, a soldier came and told us to go with him. I didn’t believe it but yes, he took us to see the pope. He greeted us all and we took a photo with him. It was an unforgettable experience,” Adam recalls happily.
“I offered the Holy Father the concert so that the world could get to know this orchestra,” explains María Antonia. “It is very important to know that This disability has treatment for people of any age. We have to fight to make this known.”
“When they applaud us I feel pride, happiness. After the Vatican concert we went for a walk and two ladies approached us who recognized us and told us, you are the ones who played in the square! We told them yes. They were our first fans and we took photos with them,” Adam remembers.
“Having the deaf orchestra is a good thing,” says Adam. “For me it is not the same to be with other deaf people as with people who have not gone through the same or similar thing to me. We understand each other. In Rome a colleague lost his backpack with his implants and you can’t imagine how scared he was. I understood this because I lost my implant battery case and charger. It’s not that I’m nobody without listening, but being without listening is difficult for me. The first day we met I already had a bond with them and that is what is special about the orchestra.”, he concludes.
#orchestra #cochlear #implants #work #harder