Emma Johnson – photo by Tim Kavanagh
One of England’s best-loved clarinet players is to perform one of the most popular works in the classical repertoire with Orchestra of the Swan next month.
Emma Johnson will be playing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the leading UK chamber orchestra at Town Hall Birmingham on Wednesday, March 14.
The orchestra will also be performing Mozart’s Divertimento K247 and Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence at the venue where it is now in its fifth year as Artists in Residence.
The same programme will be performed at the Civic Hall in Stratford-upon-Avon, where the orchestra was founded, on Tuesday, March 13 – and at both venues the audience will be able to take part in a pre-concert talk with Emma and the conductor David Curtis.
Voted BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1984 and winner of the Young Concert Artist Auditions in New York, Emma’s outstanding international career as a soloist has led to performances across Europe, the USA and the Far East.
Praised by The Times as “Britain’s favourite clarinettist”, she will be performing with Orchestra of the Swan with an instrument made by the English clarinet maker Peter Eaton.
Emma Johnson said: “I am looking forward to playing the Mozart Concerto with Orchestra of the Swan in my first appearances with them in Birmingham and Stratford, having last performed the work with the orchestra at St Mary’s Church in Painswick seven years ago.
“I believe the Mozart Concerto is the most important work for the clarinet because it is beautifully written and so loved by audiences. It is special to me because I made my recording debut with it when I was 18 years old.”
She added: “I fully approve of Orchestra of the Swan’s pre-concert discussions as it is so important that the music the audience hears is meaningful and fits into their lives.”
Emma will be coming to the Midlands after performing the Finzi Concerto with the London Festival Orchestra at The Warehouse in London on February 22, and before giving the world premiere of a new work written for her by Jonathan Dove based on the Pied Piper story with 100 young recorder players at Turner Sims in Southampton on March 28.
With more than 20 albums to her credit, Emma’s new recording of the two Brahms sonatas will be released on the Nimbus label on April 30. Her recent disc on the Universal label, The Mozart Album, spent many weeks at the top of the classical charts.
Tickets for the Birmingham concert on Wednesday, March 14 at 2.30pm are available priced from £6.50 to £19.50 by calling the box office on 0121 780 3333 or visiting www.thsh.co.uk. Tickets for the Stratford concert on Tuesday, March 13 at 7.30pm, priced from £9.50 to £21.50 are available by calling 01789 207100 (www.civichall.co.uk).