Emma Johnson

Emma Johnson is one of the few clarinettists to have established a busy international career as a soloist. Emma performs across 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. Her recent disc 'Voyage' for Universal Classics & Jazz went straight to number three in the UK Classical Charts. Emma's latest disc, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth (2006), includes the Clarinet Concerto and the Quintet.

Emma began to study the clarinet at the age of nine. In 1984 she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition televised throughout Europe and in 1991 was a winner of the Young Concert Artist Auditions in New York. She studied Music and English at Cambridge University and was recently the first woman to be awarded an honorary fellowship at Pembroke College. 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 London Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, Hallé, Tokyo Philharmonic, Salzburg Camerata and Netherlands Philharmonic in repertoire which includes over forty different concertos.


A frequent broadcaster for the BBC and European Broadcasting Union on both radio and television, Emma's TV appearances have ranged from prime time chat shows to gala concerts with Cleo Laine and Yehudi Menuhin. Emma's radio appearances include 'Artist of the Week' on both BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM; she has also presented various feature programmes. The theme tune played by Emma for the Victorian Kitchen Garden series on BBC television became a popular hit in the UK.

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. She is currently collaborating on a new concerto with Will Todd.

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

She lives in London with her double bass playing husband, Chris West, and their young daughter, Georgina.

'…[Emma Johnson] walks onto a concert platform and suddenly transforms herself into an expressive instrument of sublime beauty' - The Guardian

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