Emma Johnson

Emma Johnson ranks among the rare clarinetists who have built substantial careers performing in major concert halls. She appears frequently as a soloist, in chamber settings, and in recital programs that span core works by J.S. Bach, Mozart, Crusell, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy, Copland, and Hindemith, while also presenting lighter pieces by Joplin, Gershwin, Leroy Anderson, and numerous additional composers. Her command of more than 40 concertos extends to her own compositions and a substantial body of contemporary music written by figures such as John Dankworth, John Barry, and Howard Blake. She has toured throughout the U.K., U.S., Europe, Japan, Australia, and Africa, performing at prominent locations that include the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Barbican Hall, and Carnegie Hall. Johnson has additionally assumed conducting duties with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Mozart Players. Her recorded output appears on ASV, Naxos, and additional labels.

Born in London’s Barnet borough on May 20, 1966, Johnson began clarinet studies at age nine and joined the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at fifteen. She captured the BBC Young Musician of the Year title in 1984; the next year she made her first recording and her Barbican Hall debut, both featuring the Mozart Clarinet Concerto.

While enrolled at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where she initially read English, Johnson sustained a restricted performing schedule. During this period she studied clarinet with Jack Brymer and Sidney Fell. In 1987 John Dankworth composed Suite for Emma for her, one of many substantial works that composers have created specifically for the clarinetist.

Johnson secured first place in the 1991 Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York City and subsequently presented her Carnegie Hall recital debut. During the 1990s she issued a series of popular ASV recordings that encompassed two encore collections, released in 1992 and 1994, together with the 1995 disc Sir Malcolm Arnold: The Complete Works for Clarinet.

The British government awarded Johnson an MBE in 1996. She has remained active in the present century across concert engagements and festival appearances, among them the Mostly Mozart series at the Barbican, where she performed the Mozart concerto in 2006. One of her widely praised releases is the 2009 Naxos album containing Dankworth’s Suite for Emma along with sonatas by Bernstein and Copland.

Johnson continues to receive praise for her interpretations of standard repertory; her 2012 recording of the Brahms sonatas, made with pianist John Lenehan in the same manner as several earlier Johnson discs, was described by the Observer as “a landmark disc.” She has also explored jazz and other vernacular styles, artfully combined on the 2016 album Clarinet Goes to Town. In addition, Johnson has led performances and workshops for children, occasionally employing a musical dramatization of the Pied Piper legend. The Times of London has referred to her simply as “Britain’s favourite clarinettist.”