Kirkby, (Carolyn) Emma
Kirkby, (Carolyn) Emma
Kirkby, (Carolyn) Emma, admired English soprano; b. Camberley, Feb. 26, 1949. She studied classics at Oxford and received vocal training from Jessica Cash. She made her debut in London in 1974 and then specialized in early music. She was a member of the Academy of Ancient Music, the London Baroque, and the Consort of Musicke. In 1978 she toured the U.S.; then gave concerts in the Middle East with the lutenist Anthony Rooley (1980–83). She made her operatic debut as Mother Nature in Cupid and Death by Gibbons and Locke in Bruges in 1983. In 1989 she made her U.S. operatic debut when she sang Handel’s Orlando. In subsequent years, she toured widely in England, appearing at the London Promenade Concerts in works by Charpentier and Monteverdi in 1993, and abroad. In 1996 she sang at the Purcell Celebration at the London Barbican. Her repertoire ranges from the Italian quattrocento to arias by Handel, Mozart, and Haydn. The careful attention she pays to the purity of intonation free from intrusive vibrato has been praised.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire