Emma Kirkby

Emma Kirkby

Born: February 26, 1949
in Camberley, Surrey, England, UK
Emma Kirkby, studied classics at Oxford and received vocal training from Jessica Cash. Originally, she had no expectations of becoming a professional singer. As a classics student at Oxford and then a schoolteacher she sang for pleasure in choirs and small groups, always feeling at home most in Renaissance and Baroque repertoire.

Emma Kirkby joined the Taverner Choir in 1971 and in 1973 began her long association with the Consort of Musicke. She made her debut in London in 1974 and then specialized in Early music. Emma took part in the early Decca Florilegium recordings with both the Consort of Musicke and the Academy of Ancient Music, at a time when most college-trained sopranos were not seeking a sound appropriate for early music instruments. She therefore had to find her own approach, with enormous help from Jessica Cash in London, and from the directors, fellow singers and instrumentalists with whom she has worked over the years.

Emma Kirkby has become a legend within the concept of music as beginning not with the singer but with the words; her name is always and above all associated with pure sound. "For two decades Emma Kirkby clear, agile voice has been the quintessence of pure sound in the singing of early music. She is still one of the treasures of the world of music (Toronto Globe and Mail). She appears worldwide with a steady increasing circle of orchestras and chamber ensembles, the Academy of Ancient Music, London Baroque, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Freiburger Barockorchester, Tafelmusic Toronto and the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montreal. In addition to her work as a soloist she sings regularly with her duo partner the lutenist Anthony Rooly. Other highlights of her work are chamber concerts and recordings with the Consort of Musicke.

To date, Emma Kirkby has made the impressive number of well over a hundred recordings of all kinds, from sequences of Hildegarde of Bingen to madrigals of the Italian and English Renaissance, cantatas and oratorios of the Baroque, and works of Mozart and Haydn. Her most recent recordings include a second volume of George Frideric Handel opera arias for Hyperion, Bach wedding cantatas for Decca and Christmas music by Alessandro Scarlatti and J.S. Bach with London Baroque for BIS.

Emma Kirkby still prefers live concerts however, especially the pleasure of repeating programmes with colleagues; every occasion, every venue and every audience will combine to create something new from this wonderful repertoire. With her intelligence, her uniquely beautiful voice and her brilliant performing technique her concerts always become an unforgettable experience.

Movies for Emma Kirkby...

The King's Singers - Madrigal History Tour
Title: The King's Singers - Madrigal History Tour
Character: The Consort of Musicke
Released: August 6, 2015
Type: Movie
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G.F. Handel: Messiah
Title: G.F. Handel: Messiah
Character: Soprano 2
Released: January 1, 1982
Type: Movie
In Handel's day this best-loved of all oratorios was performed by fewer than forty instrumentalists and a chorus, less than thirty strong, of boy trebles and men. That is the tradition to which Christopher Hogwood has returned in his performances with the Academy of Ancient Music. Members of the Academy all play instruments of the period or accurate modern copies. In this recording the choruses are sung by boy trebles and male altos, tenors and basses, members of the Choir of Westminster Abbey. The soloists improvise embellishments in the arias and, in certain cases, join in the singing of the choruses, just as they would have done 240 years ago. The recording takes full advantage not only of Westminster Abbey's fine acoustic qualities, but also of the incomparable architectural splendor of the surroundings.
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Henry VIII
Title: Henry VIII
Character: Singer
Released: February 25, 1979
Type: Movie
Henry is a proud monarch who flies in the face of the church in seeking to divorce Queen Katherine and marry Anne Bullen. As cardinal Wolsey, the powerful Lord Chancellor of England, attempts to bend Rome to the King's wishes, the court reverbates with political intrigue and accusations of treachery.
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Title: The South Bank Show
Character: Self
Released: January 14, 1978
Type: TV
The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show that was produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.