Emma Johnson - “Clarinet goes to Town”

EMMA JOHNSON MBE
INTERNATIONAL CLARINETTIST

ANDREW WEST
PIANO

PAUL CLAVIS
DRUMS

“CLARINET GOES TO TOWN”

 "In early 20th century Southern America the European and the African music traditions collided and created a new music: Jazz. In my concert, I'll explore some of the elements- ragtime, cakewalks, popular song, habanera, Negro Spirituals - which fused together in this explosion reaching its apotheosis in the music of the King of Swing, Benny Goodman. I hope you'll join me on this enjoyable expedition!"

Repertoire from:

Hermann: Clarinet on the Town
Dankworth: Dream of Jeannie
Macdowell: To a Wild Rose
Joplin: The Entertainer
Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child
Gershwin: Walking the Dog and Preludes
Dvorak: Minnehaha's Melody
Chaplin: Smile
Artie Shaw: Concerto (with kit player)

Interval

Templeton: Bach Goes to Town and In Rhythm (with kit)
Bernstein: Riffs (with kit)
Bernstein: Scenes from West Side Story
Bechet: Petite Fleur (with kit)
Abreu: Tico Tico (with kit)
Piazzolla: Libertango
Goodman: Finale  (with kit) to include Clarinet a la King, Wang Wang Blues,
After you've Gone, China Boy, I've Got Rhythm

 

Emma Johnson

Emma Johnson is one of few clarinettists to have established a busy solo career which has taken her to major European, American and Asian venues as well as to Africa and Australasia.

Her recording of sonatas by Brahms and Mendelssohn with John Lenehan was described as “definitive . . . triumphant . . .a landmark disc" in The Observer (April 2012) and follows on from her Classical chart-topping successes: Voyage and The Mozart Album on the Universal label. She has an extensive discography on the A.S.V, Nimbus and Naxos labels, including a much admired recording of the Finzi Concerto, nominated for a Gramophone Award and Pastoral, chosen as CD of the Year by BBC Music Magazine.

Emma Johnson has appeared as a soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras in repertoire which includes all the major clarinet works as well as pieces written especially for her by John Dankworth, Will Todd and Michael Berkeley amongst others.

Emma Johnson is also in great demand as a collaborative artist; tours in recent years have included performances with the Takacs and Michelangelo quartets, the pianists Pascal Rogé and John Lill, the cellist Julian Lloyd-Webber and sopranos Lesley Garrett and Elizabeth Watts. She is director of Emma Johnson and Friends, a versatile wind and string group and in a recent development of her career has been invited to devise concert series on themes such as French Music, Schubert and Brahms.

An exciting collaboration with composer Jonathan Dove has seen Emma working with children in workshops and performances to recreate the story of The Pied Piper. She enjoys working with young people and has been appointed Visiting Professor at the Leeds College of Music where she will give annual master classes.

Renowned for her lyrical freshness and spontaneous expressivity, Emma Johnson has also revealed an idiomatic feeling for jazz, blues and Klezmer in recent years. She arranges music of many styles for the clarinet; books of her compositions and arrangements have been published by Chester Music, Faber Music and Kevin Mayhew.

Emma Johnson’s TV appearances range from a recital for Sky Arts, to prime-time chat shows and gala concerts. She featured in the Channel 4 documentary about the late Sir John Dankworth and played the popular hit theme tune for The Victorian Kitchen Garden (winning a Novello Award) for the BBC. Her radio work includes Artist of the Week for both Radio 3 and Classic FM and she has presented feature programmes about Gerald Finzi and John Milton for Radio 4, both chosen as Pick of the Week.

Emma grew up in London. In 1984 she won BBC Young Musician of the Year and was later to become a winner of the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York. These successes launched her career whilst she was still at school but she decided to study Music and English at Cambridge University before embarking fulltime on a musical path. A Patron of ClicSargent, the childhood cancer charity (www.clicsargent.org.uk), Emma was also the first woman to be made an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge and was honoured by the Queen with an M.B.E. in 1996.

Emma plays an instrument made by Peter Eaton.

“Emma Johnson has realised what lies at the heart of music making when it is at its best: she does not just perform but uses the music to communicate something wonderful.”

www.emmajohnson.co.uk Twitter: @clarinetemmaj

 

Andrew West

Andrew West has developed partnerships with many of the country’s leading singers and instrumentalists. His trio with Emma Johnson and soprano Lesley Garrett has been featured at recent British festivals to great acclaim.

Andrew West is one of the artistic directors of the Nuremberg International Chamber Music Festival which presents English music unfamiliar to local audiences as well as more traditional repertoire.

As a duo pianist Andrew has appeared at the City of London and Cheltenham Festivals with pianist Cedric Tiberghien. He is also closely involved with the Michael Clark Dance Company, performing the two-piano version of The Rite of Spring.

His piano quartet Touchwood released their first CD, of works by Chausson and Saint-Saens, in 2000, and this was subsequently chosen as CD of the Month by the Daily Telegraph.

His other regular recital partners include Mark Padmore. Their concerts together have included the tenor’s debut Wigmore Hall recital, repeated at the Frick Collection in New York.

Andrew West received the inaugural Gerald Moore Award for Accompanists, and won second prize at the Geneva International Piano Competition in 1990 and has since made solo tours of South Africa, South America and the United States.

Andrew read English at Clare College, Cambridge before studying at the Royal Academy of Music. He is now a professor of Piano Accompaniment at the RAM, and vocal coach at the GSMD.

 

Paul Clarvis

Paul Clarvis plays with many different bands and is involved with all musical genres, working with musicians ranging from Leonard Bernstein and Harrison Birtwistle to John Dankworth and Randy Crawford. He has recorded albums with Gordon Beck, Brian Ferry, John Williams, Sam Rivers, Moondog, John Adams, Mark Anthony Turnage, Marc Ribot / John Zorn, Michel Legrand, Elton John, Richard Thompson, Henry Lowther's Stillwaters and John Harle. He has also worked with most of the London orchestras as featured percussionist and drummer.

He is in great demand on film and recording sessions as a specialist hand drummer. Harrison Birtwistle wrote the controversial piece 'PANIC' for Paul Clarvis and John Harle which was performed and televised at the Last Night of the Proms in 1995.

He has travelled widely researching and studying music from other countries and is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Paul was asked to chair the panel for the BBC Young Musician of the Year on several occasions.

Paul participates regularly in several bands including Andy Sheppard's Learning to Wave, Stan Sulzmann's Big Band, Four in Perspective - Wheeler, Hersch, Winstone, Henry Lowther's Still Waters, Bubbling Under with Sonia Slany, Stan Sulzmann and Tony Hymas, John Williams and Friends, Colin Towns Mask orchestra and Victoria Mullova's Through the Looking Glass with Julian Joseph.