Emma Johnson
Clarinet

'Emma Johnson is one of the few clarinettists to have established a busy international career as a soloist. Emma performs in Europe, the USA and the Far East, as well as in Africa and Australia. In Britain she has achieved great popularity, regularly playing to sold-out concert halls.

Emma began to study the clarinet at the age of nine. In 1984, she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition followed by an award at the Eurovision version of the competition. In 1991 she was a winner of the Young Concert Artists Trust auditions in New York. She also studied Music and English at Pembroke College, Cambridge University and was recently the first woman to be awarded an honorary fellowship there. Emma has given masterclasses all over the world and was a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music. Emma was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 1996.

Emma Johnson has appeared with many leading orchestras including the London Symphony, The Philharmonia, the Royal Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, the Halle, the Polish Chamber Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Phoenix Symphony and the Netherlands Philharmonic in repertoire which includes over forty different concertos.

Emma is also in demand as a recitalist and chamber musician, collaborating with quartets such as the Takacs and Lindsay. She is director of her own chamber ensemble, Emma Johnson and Friends, a versatile wind and string group which recently recorded the Mozart and Weber Clarinet Quintets for ASV.

Emma is now an exclusive recording artist with Universal Classics & Jazz. Prior to that, Emma was signed by ASV at the age of eighteen and recorded extensively for them, selling well over a quarter of a million discs worldwide.

As well as the traditional repertoire, Emma takes an interest in contemporary composers. Her recording of Michael Berkeley's challenging Clarinet Concerto received widespread critical acclaim. John Dankworth has written several jazz-inspired works for Emma including a clarinet concerto premiered at the Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recent and forthcoming engagements include appearances across the UK in recital and with the City of London Sinfonia, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Johnson/ Lloyd Webber/ Lill trio and recitals in Europe and the USA. Emma featured as a soloist in the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Barbican in July and in the coming months will be touring as both soloist and conductor with the London Mozart Players.

Emma Johnson plays an instrument by the English clarinet maker Peter Eaton.