Emma Johnson (clarinettist)

Emma Johnson (born 20 May 1966,Barnet) is a British clarinettist, who was awarded an MBE for services to music in 1996.

In 1984 she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, playing one of Crusell's clarinet concertos in the televised final, and went on to win 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 gone on to become one of the UK's biggest selling classical artists, having sold over half a million discs sold worldwide.

Emma Johnson has released several CDs, of clarinet concertos and recital music, covering both standard classical repertoire and occasionally lighter tracks, including some jazz. She plays a Peter Eaton clarinet.

Emma has given concerts throughout Europe, as well as in America, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Africa and Australia, and has had works dedicated to her by Sir John Dankworth, Will Todd, Patrick Hawes, Michael Berkeley, Matthew Taylor and Robin Holloway.

The soundtrack to the BBC television series The Victorian Kitchen Garden, a suite made up of five short movements for clarinet and harp, was dedicated to Ms Johnson by the composer, Paul Reade.

Johnson is now a governor at the school she used to attend, Sevenoaks School.

In 2016, Emma Johnson has become the first female alumnus to have a portrait unveiled at Pembroke College, Cambridge. The clarinettist was the first woman to be made an honorary fellow of the college in 1999.

Emma Johnson was born on 20 May 1966 at Barnet 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 went on to represent 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. 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. She had also made many television appearances and signed an exclusive recording contract with ASV Records, for whom she went on to record more than a dozen best-selling discs.

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