Emma Johnson (clarinettist)

Last updated

Emma Johnson
MBE
Born (1966-05-20) 20 May 1966 (age 58)
Barnet, Hertfordshire, England
Genres Classical
Instrument Clarinet
Years active1984–present
Labels ASV Records
Universal Classics and Jazz
Naxos Records
Nimbus Records
Website www.emmajohnson.co.uk

Emma Johnson MBE (born 20 May 1966) [1] is a British clarinettist, who was appointed MBE for services to music in 1996.

Contents

In 1984, she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, playing one of Crusell's clarinet concertos in the televised final, [2] and won the Bronze Award representing Britain in the subsequent European Young Musician Competition. She also won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1991 which led to her New York City recital debut at Carnegie hall. She has become one of the UK's biggest selling classical artists, having sold over half a million discs sold worldwide. [3]

Career

Emma Johnson was born on 20 May 1966 in Barnet [4] in Hertfordshire. She attended Newstead Wood School for Girls, Orpington and Sevenoaks School, learning the clarinet with John Brightwell. She joined the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the age of 15. In 1984, she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year title, performing Crusell's Second Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under Bryden Thomson. She represented Britain at the European Young Musician Competition where she was awarded the Bronze Award. She made her London debut at the Barbican Hall, playing the Mozart Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra on 10 February 1985. [4] She chose not to go to music college, but in 1985 matriculated to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where she studied English, then Music. While there, she had clarinet lessons with Sidney Fell and Jack Brymer. During this period, she combined her studies with a burgeoning professional career, appearing regularly in concerts in Britain and abroad. By the time she was in her third year at university she had performed at all the principal concert halls in Britain and with most of the professional orchestras. [4] She had also made many television appearances [4] and signed an exclusive recording contract with ASV Records, for whom she recorded more than a dozen discs.

Emma Johnson is one of the few clarinettists to have established a busy career as a solo performer which has taken her to major European, American and Asian venues as well as to Africa and Australasia. Her recording of sonatas by Brahms and Mendelssohn with John Lenehan was described as "definitive...triumphant...a landmark disc" in The Observer and follows on from her classical chart-topping successes: Voyage and the Mozart Album on the Universal Label. Her recording of the Finzi Concerto was nominated for a Gramophone award and Pastoral was chosen as CD of the Year by BBC Music Magazine. [5]

In 2016 Johnson became the first female alumna to have a portrait unveiled at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and was the first woman to be made an honorary fellow of the college in 1999. [6]

In 2020 Emma Johnson was awarded the Cobbett Medal for services to chamber music by the Musicians' Company in the City of London. [7]

Johnson is a published composer too and during lockdown she wrote a clarinet concerto, Tree of Life, inspired by a need to express something in music about the climate crisis. Its first performance with a handpicked team of like-minded musicians, the Orchestra for the Environment, was a triumph and has led to many more performances throughout the UK. [8] Emma Johnson’s compositions and arrangements have been published by Chesters and Faber Music. Her composition for clarinet and choir, Songs of Celebration, was recently performed in Dublin, London and Tokyo and a series of new works have been published by Queen’s Temple Publishing. [9]

Discography

Related Research Articles

Simon Proctor is a British composer and pianist, known for his works for unusual instruments.

Susan Milan is an English professor of flute of the Royal College of Music, classical performer, recording artiste, composer, author and entrepreneur.

Ruth Dorothy Louisa ("Wid") Gipps was an English composer, oboist, pianist, conductor and educator. She composed music in a wide range of genres, including five symphonies, seven concertos and many chamber and choral works. She founded both the London Repertoire Orchestra and the Chanticleer Orchestra and served as conductor and music director for the City of Birmingham Choir. Later in her life she served as chairwoman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabine Meyer</span> Musical artist

Sabine Meyer is a German classical clarinetist.

Yeol Eum Son is a world renowned South Korean classical pianist. She is particularly esteemed as an interpreter of the Classical era of composers, especially Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, as well as such later composers as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Ravel.

Howard Gordon Shelley is a British pianist and conductor. He was educated at Highgate School and the Royal College of Music. He was married to fellow pianist Hilary Macnamara till her death in 2021, with whom he performed and recorded in a two-piano partnership, and they have two sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ransom Wilson</span> American flutist and conductor (born 1951)

Ransom Wilson is an American flutist, conductor, and educator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barjansky Stradivarius</span> Musical instrument

The Barjansky Stradivarius of c.1690 is an antique cello fabricated by the Italian Cremonese luthier Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Cohler</span> Musical artist

Jonathan Cohler is an American classical clarinetist, conductor, music educator and record producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol Rosenberger</span> American musician and academic

Carol Rosenberger is a classical pianist. In 1976, Rosenberger was chosen to represent America's women concert artists by the President's National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. She has given performance workshops for young musicians on campuses nationwide. Rosenberger recorded over 30 albums on the Delos Productions, Inc. recording label. Rosenberger's memoir, To Play Again: A Memoir of Musical Survival was published in 2018 by She Writes Press.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Kam</span> Musical artist

Sharon Kam ; born August 11, 1971, is an Israeli–German clarinetist. She won the ARD International Music Competition in 1992.

Margaret Ruth Fingerhut is a British classical pianist. She is known for her innovative recital programmes and recordings in which she explores lesser known piano repertoire.

Antony Pay is a classical clarinettist. After gaining a place with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, with whom he performed the Mozart clarinet concerto at the age of 16, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music and then read Mathematics at Cambridge University, graduating in 1966.

Håkan Rosengren is a Swedish clarinet virtuoso, active in the United States and Europe.

Fredrik Fors is a Swedish, classical music clarinetist. His album in the Juventus Les Nouveaux Musiciens series has been described as "one of the finest recitals of its kind".

The Russian-born British/German cellist Leonid Gorokhov studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire with Anatoli Nikitin and took part in masterclasses with Daniil Shafran. Winner of Concertino Praga and Paris Chamber Music Competition, Leonid Gorokhov is the only Russian cellist to be awarded the Grand Prix and the First Prize of the Geneva Concours (1986). In 1995 the European Association for Encouragement of the Arts awarded the Cultural Achievement Prize to Leonid Gorokhov for exceptional talent and outstanding artistic accomplishment.

Roger John Goeb was an American composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hideko Udagawa</span> Japanese musician

Hideko Udagawa is a Japanese violinist based in London, United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Marc Fessard</span> French classical clarinetist

Jean-Marc Fessard is a French classical clarinetist.

Janet Lesley Hilton is a British clarinet soloist, teacher, chamber performer, and orchestral musician. She has gained widespread recognition for her extensive recordings with the Chandos and Naxos record labels.

References

  1. ↑ "Birthdays", The Guardian , p. 39, 20 May 2014
  2. ↑ "1984 Emma Johnson – Clarinet". BBC. Retrieved 3 March 2008.
  3. ↑ "Worcester News". 2 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Pamela Weston, Clarinet Virtuosi of Today
  5. ↑ meettheartist.online
  6. ↑ Classical Music Magazine 9/3/2016
  7. ↑ wcom.org.uk
  8. ↑ englishcathedrals.co.uk
  9. ↑ "Malvern Concert Club: Emma Johnson & Friends".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.