Tracks of my Life with Joanne Roughton-Arnold

Tracks of My Life is a show on RNIB Connect Radio presented and produced by Toby Davey where he invites a guest to take us on a journey through their life, sharing the tracks that mark important moments which bring back memories to them.

Their chosen tracks of their life might include the first track they can remember hearing, the first track they bought, a number of tracks that mark moments in their life and the final track, a track that they would like to pass on which might give people hope for the future.

In this trimmed down podcast version of Tracks of My Life Toby is joined by Joanne Roughton-Arnold.

Joanne is a visually impaired Opera singer, Artistic Director, and co-founder of FormidAbility the world’s first opera company putting accessibility at the foundation of the creative process.

Joanne is a New Zealander who came to the UK in the mid-90s to follow her musical career firstly as a violinist before training as a professional opera singer. Joanne has performed on many stages in Britain and across the world as a solo performer as well as with the Paraorchestra and her own company FormidAbility. 

In Joanne’s Tracks of My Life we will be taken on a journey from her New Zealand homeland to her life now here in the UK.  Early memories of dancing around her Gran’s kitchen to her first chosen track and hearing the Nova Strings perform at school which inspired Joanne to learn the violin.  We will then be taken back to New Zealand with a track that features the unique sounds of New Zealand forest bird song, followed by a concert recording by two people who have played a huge part in Joanne’s singing career before hearing a track that Joanne performed on from the soundtrack to the amazing and inspiring Netflix documentary film, Rising Phoenix all about the rise of the Paralympic games. It was watching the Paraorchestra performing at the 2012 London Paralympic Games and performing with them that inspired Joanne to set up FormidAbility.

You can catch the hour-long version of Tracks of My Life with Toby’s guest’s music tracks in full by tuning in to RNIB Connect Radio every Tuesday at 7pm, repeated on Thursday at 1pm and Sunday at 8pm. 

To find out more about Joanne Roughton-Arnold and her Opera company FormidAbility do visit Joanne's website - 

or the FormidAbility website -

Photo of Joanne Roughton-Arnold by Rob Arnold - ‘Joanne smiles at the camera, her chin resting in her hand and her blond curly hair fall across her blue shirt.’