about this event
Described by The Times as "Britain's favourite clarinettist" Emma Johnson is one of the few clarinettists to have established a career as a solo performer. Emma grew up in London and her career was launched when at the age of 17 she won BBC Young Musician of the Year followed by the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York. She studied Music and English at Pembroke College, Cambridge before embarking on music full time and since then she has performed all over the world.
Programme:
Mozart – Variations K581a
Schumann – Fantasiestucke Op.73
Rebecca Clarke – Impetuoso
Poulenc – Clarinet Sonata
Interval
Emma Johnson – Three Perspectives
Jelly Roll Morton – Black Bottom Stomp
Dvorak – Minehaha’s Lament
Bechet – Petite Fleur
Ellington – Single Petal of a Rose, Don’t Mean a Thing
Benny Goodman – Medley
Johnson has made 30 recordings to date; tracks from her recent album with
the BBC Concert Orchestra, English Fantasy, have been streamed 4
million times on Spotify. Voyage and The Mozart Album on the
Universal label were also classical chart-topping successes and Johnson's CD of
Brahms sonatas with John Lenehan was described as "definitive"
in The Observer, whilst her recording of Stanford and Finzi Concertos was
nominated for a Gramophone Award.
Emma Johnson is also a composer; books of her arrangements and compositions
have been published by Chesters and Fabers. Songs of Celebration,
Johnson's composition for clarinet and choir, has recently been performed in
Dublin, London and Tokyo and she has written a clarinet concerto Tree of
Life. A series of new solo clarinet pieces has been published by Queen's
Temple Publishing.
In 2020 Emma Johnson was awarded the Cobbett Medal for distinguished
services to chamber music from the Musicians' Company Guild in the City of
London. She loves to collaborate with other musicians and also directs her own
ensemble, Emma Johnson and Friends, whose recent live recording of
the Schubert Octet was critically acclaimed.
Working with artists as diverse as Sir Yehudi Menuhin and Dame Cleo Laine, Emma
is known for her eclectic programming; amongst the programmes she offers are Tales of
Vienna and Clarinet Goes to Town.
Emma Johnson’s TV appearances range from a recital for Sky Arts TV to gala
concerts including a recent televised Prom. Emma featured in the Channel 4
documentary about the jazz musician, the late Sir John Dankworth and she played
the popular hit theme for The Victorian Kitchen Garden on BBC TV
(winning a Novello Award). Videos of her performances and masterclasses can be
seen on her YouTube channel. Her radio work includes Artist of the
Week for both BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM as well as for radio stations
around the world and she has been a featured guest on programmes such as Woman's
Hour and World at One. Her broadcasts about the composer Finzi
and the poet Milton were both chosen as Pick of the Week and she is
often invited to give talks, including recently Comedy Classical, an
exploration of humour in music, for The Arts Society.
Emma has given masterclasses throughout the world and was a professor at the
Royal College of Music, London. She also devised a project with composer,
Jonathan Dove involving UK school children recreating the story of The Pied
Piper. Emma has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras
in repertoire which includes all the major clarinet works as well as pieces
written especially for her by Sir John Dankworth, Will Todd, Patrick Hawes,
Matthew Taylor and Sir Michael Berkeley amongst others.
Emma was the first woman to be made an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College,
Cambridge and in 2017 the college commissioned a portrait of her.
She enjoys running and has run half marathons to raise funds for Unicef. She is
a patron of ClicSargent,
and Ronald McDonald House
Charities. She was honoured by the Queen with an M.B.E. in 1996.
Emma plays an instrument made by the English clarinet maker, Peter Eaton.
"Emma Johnson has realised what lies at the heart of music
making when it is at its best: she does not just perform but uses the music to
communicate something wonderful."