EMMA KIRKBY

Emma Kirkby had originally no intention of becoming a professional singer. She read Classics at Oxford and was a schoolteacher for a while, but after a period as a member of various choirs and small ensembles mainly specialising in Renaissance and Baroque music she joined The Taverner Choir, and two years later began her long-lasting association with The Consort of Musicke. She took part in the early Florilegium recordings with The Consort of Musicke and The Academy of Ancient Music, and working here with original instruments became aware of the need to develop a new kind of vocal tone; this problem she had to solve herself with the help of Jessica Cash in London and various early music specialists, including instrumentalists and conductors as well as fellow-singers. Emma Kirkby has more than a hundred recordings to her name. They range from the sequences of Hildegard of Bingen to Italian and English madrigals, Baroque cantatas and oratorios, and works by Mozart and Haydn. Her preferred platform is still in live performance with groups such as Britain’s London Baroque, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Fretwork, and Florilegium, Canada’s Tafelmusik, and continental colleagues, including Concerto Copenhagen, L’Orfeo of Linz, Freiburger Barockorchester.

Albums featuring this artist are available for download from ClassicsOnline.com

Role: Classical Artist
Album Title	Catalogue No	Work Category