Pembroke unveils portrait of Emma Johnson

Pembroke was delighted to unveil a portrait of its first female Honorary Fellow, renowned clarinettist Emma Johnson MBE (1985), last night.

[caption id="attachment_23794" align="alignleft" width="300"] Emma Johnson (1985)[/caption]

The portrait was commissioned by the College for the Hall and will be the second portrait of a woman to be hung there, after the Foundress herself. The artist is Isabella Watling, whose work featured in the 2012 and 2014 BP Portrait Award exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery.

Emma will be talking about the portrait with Libby Purves on BBC Radio 4's Midweek programme at 9am (GMT) today, Wednesday 9 March.

In 1984 Ms Johnson won the prestigious BBC Young Musician of the Year award. The following year she came up to Pembroke to read English and Music. After graduating Ms Johnson embarked on an a busy solo career, which has taken her all over the world and she has collaborated with many of the world's leading orchestras and musicians, including the Michelangelo quartet, the pianist Pascal Roge, the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and sopranos Lesley Garrett and Elizabeth Watts. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list in 1996. Her new CD, An English Fantasy (Nimbus Records), features recordings of four clarinet concertos written for her by four English composers.

Photo: Nigel Luckhurst. Copyright: Pembroke College Cambridge