Baird may refer to:

Places[link]

• Baird, Hastings, a local government ward within Hastings Borough Council in the county of East Sussex, England
• Baird, Texas, a US city
• Baird Peninsula, Nunavut, Canada

People[link]

• Baird (surname)
  • John Logie Baird, inventor of television
• Baird Baronets

Other[link]

• Robert W. Baird & Co., a financial services company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US
• Baird School, a fictional preparatory school in the movie Scent of a Woman

See also[link]

• Baird's Beaked Whale
• Baird's Sandpiper, a small shorebird
• Baird's Sparrow, a small North American bird
• Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, a compendium of fraternities and sororities in the US and Canada

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Daniel "Dan" John Baird (born 12 December 1953) was born in San Diego, California and is an American singer-songwriter, musician and producer. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist from the chart-topping 80s rock band The Georgia Satellites. Baird formed The Georgia Satellites in 1980 and left the band in 1990, to pursue a successful solo career. He is often credited as a pioneer in Cowpunk and Alt-country music, which combines elements of Rock with Country, outlaw country and punk rock.

Baird currently tours and records with his band Homemade Sin, which features a total of 3 ex-members from The Georgia Satellites, including bassist Keith Christopher and drummer Mauro Magellan. Homemade Sin also showcases the talents of guitarist Warner E. Hodges, who tours and records with Jason & the Scorchers.

Homemade Sin performs a mixture of Baird's solo material in addition to the hits and fan favorites from his years with The Georgia Satellites. To achieve a similar classic tube amplifier sound with his current band Homemade Sin, Baird relies heavily on a vintage setup very similar to what was used during his tenure with The Georgia Satellites. Creating confusion for some fans, there is a re-formed version of The Georgia Satellites featuring original guitarist Rick Richards and bassist Rick Price, who joined the group to replace original bassist Keith Christopher, who left the band prior to their fame.

Personal life[link]

Born and raised in San Diego, Baird moved to Atlanta, Georgia in his early teens. He is best known for his work with the band The Georgia Satellites. He has also worked on various other musical projects^[which?] and is a record producer. Baird owns numerous vintage guitars and amplifiers. His favorite guitar is an original Fender Esquire which previously belonged to Steve Marriott, who was the lead singer of English rock and roll bands Small Faces and Humble Pie. With The Georgia Satellites, Baird worked with producer Ian McLagan who was also a member of Small Faces. Contrary to popular belief, Baird is happily married and does not drink alcohol. During tours, Baird can often be found exercising in hotel gyms. According to Baird's blog on MySpace, he met Neil Young in a hotel gym locker room. The two discussed guitars and amplifiers and Young complimented Baird on his music.

Musical career[link]

Baird released his first solo album, Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired, in October 1991. The CD was produced by Rick Rubin, who founded Def American Recordings after leaving Def Jam Recordings. A contemporary review in Rolling Stone magazine praised its combination of foot-stomping redneck rock and slyly intelligent lyrics:

"This is how bluesed-up macho rock ought to be served: sizzling hot and extra lean, seasoned with a sneaky sense of humor. On his solo debut, Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired, the former Georgia Satellites frontman commands attention like a smart bar-stool bard. Dan Baird spins ribald white-trash tales to familiar Chuck Berry-derived boogie, yet the guitars emit a stinging immediacy. Retro it's not - really."

"I Love You Period", a single from the album, peaked at #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2005, Baird began touring with his own band, Homemade Sin. He has recorded with other artists including The Yayhoos and the Franklin, Tennessee rock musician, Will Hoge. Baird was one of the original members of Hoge's band before leaving to pursue individual ventures. Baird has also performed as a member of the country music band, Trent Summar & the New Row Mob. More recently^[when?], Baird re-joined Will Hoge on tour as the lead guitarist during a portion of his summer tour. Currently, Dan Baird is working on new material with Homemade Sin and is currently on a world tour with the group.

Discography[link]

With the Georgia Satellites

• Keep the Faith EP (1985)
• Georgia Satellites (1986)
• Inspired By Jack Daniels: Live In Concert (1987)
• Open All Night (1988)
• In the Land of Salvation and Sin (1989)
• Let It Rock: The Best of the Georgia Satellites (1993) [Compilation]

With the Yayhoos

• Fear Not the Obvious (2001)
• Put the Hammer Down (2006)

As a solo artist

• Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired (1991)
• Buffalo Nickel (1996)
• Dan Baird and the Sofa Kings -- Redneck Savant (2001)
• Out of Mothballs (2003)
• Dan Baird and Homemade Sin (2008)
• Fresh Out of Georgia Live Like a Satellite: Greatest Hits Live (2010)

Bootlegs & unofficial releases

• Redneck Punk (2005)
• Live at the Borderline London (2007)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dan Baird of Georgia Satellites Website
• Georgia Satellites (without Dan Baird) Website

Henry Purcell by John Closterman

Engraved portrait of Henry Purcell by R. White after Closterman, from Orpheus Britannicus

Henry Purcell ( /ˈpɜrsəl/;^[1] 10 September 1659 (?)^[2]– 21 November 1695), was an English composer. Although incorporating Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, Purcell's legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers; no other native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar.

Early life and career[link]

Purcell was born in St Ann's Lane Old Pye Street, Westminster. Henry Purcell Senior,^[3] whose older brother Thomas Purcell (d. 1682) was also a musician, was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King Charles II of England.^[4] Henry the elder had three sons: Edward, Henry and Daniel. Daniel Purcell (d. 1717), the youngest of the brothers, was also a prolific composer who wrote the music for much of the final act of The Indian Queen after Henry Purcell's death. Henry Purcell's family lived just a few hundred yards west of Westminster Abbey from the year 1659 and onward.^[5]

After his father's death in 1664, Purcell was placed under the guardianship of his uncle who showed him great affection and kindness.^[6] Thomas was himself a gentleman of His Majesty's chapel, and arranged for Henry to be admitted as a chorister. Henry studied first under Captain Henry Cooke (d. 1672),^[7] Master of the Children, and afterwards under Pelham Humfrey (d. 1674), Cooke's successor.^[8] Henry was a chorister in the Chapel Royal until his voice broke in 1673, when he became assistant to the organ-builder John Hingston, who held the post of keeper of wind instruments to the King.^[5]

Purcell is said to have been composing at nine years old, but the earliest work that can be certainly identified as his is an ode for the King's birthday, written in 1670.^[9] (The dates for his compositions are often uncertain, despite considerable research.) It is assumed that the three-part song "Sweet tyranness, I now resign" was written by him as a child.^[6] After Humfrey's death, Purcell continued his studies under Dr. John Blow. He attended Westminster School and in 1676 was appointed copyist at Westminster Abbey.^[4] Henry Purcell's earliest anthem "Lord, who can tell" was composed in 1678. It is a psalm that is prescribed for Christmas Day and also to be read at morning prayer on the fourth day of the month.^[10]

In 1679, he wrote some songs for John Playford's Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues and also an anthem, the name of which is not known, for the Chapel Royal. From a letter written by Thomas Purcell, and still extant, we learn that this anthem was composed for the exceptionally fine voice of the Rev. John Gostling, then at Canterbury, but afterwards a gentleman of His Majesty's chapel. Purcell wrote several anthems at different times for Gostling's extraordinary basso profondo voice, which is known to have had a range of at least two full octaves, from D below the bass staff to the D above it. The dates of very few of these sacred compositions are known; perhaps the most notable example is the anthem "They that go down to the sea in ships." In gratitude for the providential escape of King Charles II from shipwreck, Gostling, who had been of the royal party, put together some verses from the Psalms in the form of an anthem and requested Purcell to set them to music. The work is a very difficult one, opening with a passage which traverses the full extent of Gostling's range, beginning on the upper D and descending two octaves to the lower.

Later career and death[link]

Another portrait of Henry Purcell

In 1679, Blow, who had been appointed organist of Westminster Abbey in 1669, resigned his office in favour of his pupil.^[11] Purcell now devoted himself almost entirely to the composition of sacred music, and for six years severed his connection with the theatre. However, during the early part of the year, probably before taking up his new office, he had produced two important works for the stage, the music for Nathaniel Lee's Theodosius, and Thomas d'Urfey's Virtuous Wife.^[11] Between 1680 and 1688 Purcell wrote music for seven plays.^[12] The composition of his chamber opera Dido and Aeneas, which forms a very important landmark in the history of English dramatic music, has been attributed to this period, and its earliest production may well have predated the documented one of 1689.^[11] It was written to a libretto furnished by Nahum Tate, and performed in 1689 in cooperation with Josias Priest, a dancing master and the choreographer for the Dorset Garden Theatre. Priest's wife kept a boarding school for young gentlewomen, first in Leicester Fields and afterwards at Chelsea, where the opera was performed.^[13] It is occasionally considered the first genuine English opera, though that title is usually given to Blow's Venus and Adonis: as in Blow's work, the action does not progress in spoken dialogue but in Italian-style recitative. Both works run to less than one hour. At the time Dido and Aeneas never found its way to the theatre, though it appears to have been very popular in private circles. It is believed to have been extensively copied, but only one song was printed by Purcell's widow in Orpheus Britannicus, and the complete work remained in manuscript until 1840, when it was printed by the Musical Antiquarian Society under the editorship of Sir George Macfarren. The composition of Dido and Aeneas gave Purcell his first chance to write a sustained musical setting of a dramatic text. It was his only opportunity to compose a work in which the music carried the entire drama.^[12] The story of Dido and Aeneas derives from the original source in Virgil's epic the Aeneid.^[14]

Soon after Purcell's marriage, in 1682, on the death of Edward Lowe, he was appointed organist of the Chapel Royal, an office which he was able to hold simultaneously with his position at Westminster Abbey.^[15] His eldest son was born in this same year, but his life was short lived.^[16] His first printed composition, Twelve Sonatas, was published in 1683.^[17][18] For some years after this, he was busy in the production of sacred music, odes addressed to the king and royal family, and other similar works.^[19][20] In 1685, he wrote two of his finest anthems, "I was glad" and "My heart is inditing", for the coronation of King James II.^[15] One of Purcell's most elaborate, most important and most magnificent works was a birthday ode for Queen Mary. It is titled Come ye Sons of Art, and was written by Nahum Tate and set by Purcell.^[21]

In 1687, he resumed his connection with the theatre by furnishing the music for Dryden's tragedy, Tyrannick Love. In this year, Purcell also composed a march and quick-step, which became so popular that Lord Wharton adapted the latter to the fatal verses of Lillibullero; and in or before January 1688, he composed his anthem "Blessed are they that fear the Lord" by express command of the King. A few months later, he wrote the music for D'Urfey's play, The Fool's Preferment. In 1690, he composed the music for Betterton's adaptation of Fletcher and Massinger's Prophetess (afterwards called Dioclesian)^[22] and Dryden's Amphitryon. During the first ten years of his mastership, Purcell composed much- precisely how much we can only guess. In 1691, he wrote the music for what is sometimes considered his dramatic masterpiece, King Arthur, with the libretto by Dryden and first published by the Musical Antiquarian Society in 1843. Another one of Purcell's operas is King Arthur, or The British Worthy in 1691.^[13] In 1692, he composed The Fairy-Queen (an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream), the score of which (his longest for theatre)^[23] was rediscovered in 1901 and published by the Purcell Society.^[24] The Indian Queen followed in 1695, in which year he also wrote songs for Dryden and Davenant's version of Shakespeare's The Tempest (recently, this has been disputed by music scholars^[25]), probably including "Full fathom five" and "Come unto these yellow sands". The Indian Queen was adapted from a tragedy by Dryden and Sir Robert Howard.^[23] In these semi-operas (another term for which at the time was "dramatic opera"), the main characters of the plays do not sing but speak their lines: the action moves in dialogue rather than recitative. The related songs are sung "for" them by singers, who have minor dramatic roles.

Purcell's Te Deum and Jubilate Deo were written for Saint Cecilia's Day, 1694, the first English Te Deum ever composed with orchestral accompaniment. This work was annually performed at St Paul's Cathedral until 1712, after which it was performed alternately with Handel's Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate until 1743, when both works were replaced by Handel's Dettingen Te Deum.^[26]

He composed an anthem and two elegies for Queen Mary II's funeral.^[27] Besides the operas and semi-operas already mentioned, Purcell wrote the music and songs for Thomas d'Urfey's The Comical History of Don Quixote, Boudicca, The Indian Queen and others, a vast quantity of sacred music, and numerous odes, cantatas, and other miscellaneous pieces. The quantity of his instrumental chamber music is minimal after his early career, and his keyboard music consists of an even more minimal number of harpsichord suites and organ pieces.^[28] In 1693, Purcell composed music for two Comedies: The Old Bachelor, and The Double Dealer. Purcell also composed for five other plays within the same year.^[11] In July 1695, Henry Purcell composed an ode for the Duke of Gloucester for his sixth birthday. The ode is titled Who can from joy refrain?^[29] Purcell's four-part sonatas were issued in 1697.^[11] In the remaining six years of his life, Henry Purcell wrote music for forty two plays.^[11]

Purcell died in 1695 at his home in Dean's Yard, Westminster, at the height of his career. He is believed to have been 35 or 36 years old at the time. The cause of his death is unclear: one theory is that he caught a chill after returning home late from the theatre one night to find that his wife had locked him out. Another is that he succumbed to tuberculosis.^[30] The beginning of Purcell's will reads:

"In the name of God Amen. I, Henry Purcell, of the City of Westminster, gentleman, being dangerously ill as to the constitution of my body, but in good and perfect mind and memory (thanks be to God) do by these presents publish and declare this to be my last Will and Testament. And I do hereby give and bequeath unto my loving wife, Frances Purcell, all my estate both real and personal of what nature and kind soever..."^[31]

Purcell is buried adjacent to the organ in Westminster Abbey. The music that he had earlier composed for Queen Mary's funeral was performed during his as well. Purcell was universally mourned as 'a very great master of music.'  Following his death, the officials at Westminster honoured him by unanimously voting that he be buried with no expense in the north aisle of the Abbey.^[32] His epitaph reads: "Here lyes Henry Purcell Esq., who left this life and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded."^[33]

Henry Purcell fathered six children by his wife Frances, four of whom died in infancy. His wife, as well as his son Edward (1689–1740) and daughter Frances, survived him.^[11] Frances the elder died in 1706, having published a number of her husband's works, including the now famous collection called Orpheus Britannicus, in two volumes, printed in 1698 and 1702, respectively. Edward was appointed organist of St Clement Eastcheap, London, in 1711 and was succeeded by his son Edward Henry Purcell (d. 1765). Both men were buried in St Clement's near the organ gallery.

Influence and reputation[link]

"The Flowering of the English Baroque", bronze memorial sculpture by Glynn Williams in a small park on Victoria St, Westminster.

After his death, Purcell was honoured by many of his contemporaries, including his old friend John Blow, who wrote "An Ode, on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell (Mark how the lark and linnet sing)" with text by his old collaborator, John Dryden. More recently, the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a famous sonnet entitled simply "Henry Purcell", with a headnote reading: "The poet wishes well to the divine genius of Purcell and praises him that, whereas other musicians have given utterance to the moods of man's mind, he has, beyond that, uttered in notes the very make and species of man as created both in him and in all men generally."

Purcell also had a strong influence on the composers of the English musical renaissance of the early 20th century, most notably Benjamin Britten, who created and performed a realisation of Dido and Aeneas and whose The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is based on a theme from Purcell's Abdelazar. Stylistically, the aria "I know a bank" from Britten's opera A Midsummer Night's Dream is clearly inspired by Purcell's aria "Sweeter than Roses", which Purcell originally wrote as part of incidental music to Richard Norton's Pausanias, the Betrayer of His Country.

Purcell is honoured together with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 28 July.^[34] In a 1940 interview Ignaz Friedman stated that he considered Purcell as great as Bach and Beethoven. In Victoria Street, Westminster, England, there is a bronze monument to Purcell (right), sculpted by Glynn Williams and erected in 1994.

Purcell's works have been catalogued by Franklin Zimmerman, who gave them a number preceded by Z. A Purcell Club was founded in London in 1836 for promoting the performance of his music, but was dissolved in 1863. In 1876 a Purcell Society was founded, which published new editions of his works. A modern day Purcell Club has been created, and provides guided tours and concerts in support of Westminster Abbey.

So strong was his reputation that a popular wedding processional was incorrectly attributed to Purcell for many years. The so-called Purcell's Trumpet Voluntary was in fact written around 1700 by a British composer named Jeremiah Clarke as the Prince of Denmark's March.

In 2009 Pete Townshend of The Who, an English rock band that established itself in the 1960s, identified Purcell's harmonies as an influence on the band's music (in songs such as "Won't Get Fooled Again" (1971), "I Can See for Miles" (1967) and the very Purcellian intro to "Pinball Wizard").^[35]

Michael Nyman, at the request of the director, built the score of Peter Greenaway's 1982 film, The Draughtsman's Contract on ostinati by Purcell from various sources, one misattributed. He credited Purcell as a "music consultant." Another of Purcell's ostinati, the Cold Genius aria from King Arthur, was used in Nyman's Memorial.

In popular culture[link]

Purcell is among the Baroque composers who has had a direct influence on modern rock and roll; according to Pete Townshend of The Who, Purcell was among his influences, particularly evident in the opening bars of The Who's "Pinball Wizard".^[36] The processional section from Purcell's "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary," was also adapted for the synthesiser by Wendy Carlos to serve as the theme music for the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, the music is also featured in the final scene of the 1995 film The Young Poisoner's Handbook. Noted cult New Wave artist Klaus Nomi regularly performed "The Cold Song" from King Arthur during his career, including a version on his debut self-titled album, Klaus Nomi, from 1981; his last public performance before his untimely death was an interpretation of the piece done with a full orchestra in December 1982 in Munich. Purcell wrote the song for a bass, but numerous countertenors have performed the piece in homage to Nomi. Sting recorded it on his 2009 album If On a Winter's Night....

In the 1995 film England, My England, the life of Purcell (played by Michael Ball) was depicted as seen through the eyes of a playwright in the 1960s who is trying to write a play about him.

In the 21st century, the soundtrack of the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice features a dance titled "A Postcard to Henry Purcell." This is a version by composer Dario Marianelli of Purcell's Abdelazar theme. In the German-language 2004 movie, Der Untergang ([the] Downfall (film), the music of Dido's Lament is used repeatedly as the end of the Third Reich culminates.

I was Glad Ode 1 – Sinfonia Ode 2 – Welcome to All Ode 3 – Hail to this Happy Assembly Ode 4 – Here the Deities Approve Ode 5 – While Joys Celestial Ode 6 – Then Lift Up Your Voices Ode 7 – Beauty, Thou Scene of Love Ode 8 – In a Consort of Voices Hear my prayer, O Lord (1.9 Mb)

	Toccata in A major Performed by Sylvia Kind on a harpsichord of the type made in the early 20th century
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

	"The Queen's Dolour (A Farewell)" Realised by Ronald Stevenson (1958), performed live by Mark Gasser
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

See also[link]

• List of compositions by Henry Purcell

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

• Burden, Michael, ed. Performing the Music of Henry Purcell, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996.
• Burden, Michael, ed. Henry Purcell's Operas; The Complete Texts, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000.
• Dent, Edward J. Foundations of English Opera, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1928.
• Duffy, Maureen, Henry Purcell, Fourth Estate Ltd, Londen, 1994.
• Holman, Peter and Robert Thompson. "Henry Purcell (ii)," Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 17 March 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
• Holman, Peter, Henry Purcell, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994.
• Holst, Imogen, ed. Henry Purcell 1659–1695: Essays on His Music, Oxford University Press, London, 1959.
• Keates, Jonathan, Purcell, Chatto & Windus, Londen, 1995
• Moore, R. E., Henry Purcell and the Restoration Theatre, Greenwood Press, Westport CT, 1961.
• Muller, Julia, Words and Music in Henry Purcell's First Semi-Opera, Dioclesian, Edwin Mellen Press, New York, 1990.
• Orrey, Leslie and Rodney Milnes, Opera: A Concise History, World of Art, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20217-6.
• Price, Curtis A., Henry Purcell and the London Stage,Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1984.
• Shay, Robert, and Robert Thompson, Purcell Manuscripts: The Principal Musical Sources Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000.
• Westrup, Jack A., Purcell, Dent & Sons, Londen 1980
• Zimmerman, Franklin B., Henry Purcell, 1659–1695, His Life and Times, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA, 1983
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Henry Purcell

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Henry Purcell" article dated 2006-08-15, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

• Purcell by John F. Runciman, a biography forming part of Bell's Miniature Series of Musicians published in 1909, from Project Gutenberg
• Free scores by Henry Purcell in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Works by or about Henry Purcell in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Free scores by Henry Purcell in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Henry Purcell at the International Music Score Library Project
• The Mutopia Project has compositions by Henry Purcell
• Short biography, audio samples and images of Purcell
• Monument to Purcell
• Harpsichord Suites played on virtual harpsichord
• Dido's Lament – Research leading to a narrative account of how Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas was created.
• Henry Purcell at Allmusic

Catherine Bott (born 11 September 1952) is a British soprano and a baroque specialist.^[1]

Following her studies at The King's High School For Girls,^{[citation needed]} and Guildhall School of Music and Drama^[2], with Arthur Reckless, she began her career as a member of the English baroque-jazz crossover group, The Swingle Singers. By 1980 she had begun appearing frequently in the New London Consort and thereafter began performing across the world in Europe, Latin America and the USSR with several other period-instrument groups.^[3]

She has recorded extensively, for example as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music in 1994), with the choir of King's College, Cambridge conducted by Stephen Cleobury in Bach's St. John Passion, as Venus in John Blow’s Venus and Adonis with Philip Pickett, and in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea with Sir John Eliot Gardiner. She also vocalized on Trevor Jones's score for The Dark Crystal.^{[citation needed]}

Bott has been used by conductors to perform and record more recent repertoire, for example with Sir John Eliot Gardiner in Fauré's Requiem, Vaughan Williams' Sinfonia Antartica, Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 with Bryden Thomson and the London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra respectively. She is also in demand among contemporary composers such as Michael Nyman and Jonathan Dove.^{[citation needed]}

As at 2012 she is one of two presenters of The Early Music Show on BBC Radio 3 (with Lucie Skeaping) on Saturdays and Sundays at 1 pm,^[4]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2007)

Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, DBE (born 26 February 1949) is an English soprano singer and one of the world's most renowned early music specialists. She attended Sherborne School For Girls in Dorset and was a classics student at Somerville College, Oxford, and an English teacher before developing a career as a soloist. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours list.^[1]

Education and early career[link]

Emma Kirkby was educated at Hanford School^[2] and Sherborne School For Girls in Dorset. Her father was Geoffrey John Kirkby, a Royal Navy Officer.

Originally, Kirkby had no expectations of becoming a professional singer. As a classics student at Oxford and schoolteacher she sang for pleasure in choirs and small groups, notably Schola Cantorum of Oxford, always feeling at home most in Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. The fact that her voice was not a particularly large one meant that her potential as a soloist was not recognised immediately.

Kirkby was a founding member of the Taverner Choir, and in 1973 began her long association with the Consort of Musicke. She 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.

Kirkby has built long term relationships with chamber groups and orchestras, in particular London Baroque, the Freiburger Barockorchester, L’Orfeo (of Linz) and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and now with some of the younger groups – the Palladian Ensemble and Florilegium. She has also been the Patron of Derby Choral Union since 1993. She has taught for many years at Dartington International Summer School.

In 1994, she was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Music) from the University of Bath.^[3]

Recordings[link]

Kirkby has made well over a hundred recordings of all kinds, from sequences of Hildegard of Bingen to madrigals of the Italian and English Renaissance, cantatas and oratorios of the Baroque, works of Mozart, Haydn and Johann Christian Bach. Recent recordings include: Handel: Opera Arias and Overtures 2 for Hyperion, Johann Sebastian Bach wedding cantatas for Decca, Bach Cantatas 82a and 199 for Carus; and four projects for BIS: with London Baroque, one of Handel motets and one of Christmas music by Scarlatti, Bach and others; with the Royal Academy Baroque Orchestra the first recording of the newly-rediscovered Gloria by Handel; and with the Romantic Chamber Group of London, Chanson d'amour, an album of songs by the American composer Amy Beach, who died in 1944.

More recent recordings: an anthology, Classical Kirkby, devised and performed with Anthony Rooley, on the BIS label, 2002; Cantatas by Cataldo Amodei, also for BIS, 2004; with Fretwork, consort songs by William Byrd, for Harmonia Mundi USA, 2005.; Scarlatti Stabat Mater with Daniel Taylor, for ATMA, 2006; Honey from the Hive, songs of John Dowland, with Anthony Rooley, for BIS, 2006: and Musique and Sweet Poetrie, also for BIS, 2007; lute songs from Europe with Jakob Lindberg.

In 1999 Kirkby was voted Artist of the Year by Classic FM Radio listeners and in November 2000 she received the Order of the British Empire. BBC Music Magazine in April 2007 published a survey of critics to nominate “The 20 greatest sopranos”, controversially^{[citation needed]} placing Kirkby at number 10 ^[4]

Despite all her recording activity, Kirkby prefers live concerts, especially the pleasure of performing favourite programmes with colleagues.

Personal life[link]

From 1971 to 1983 she was married to the conductor Andrew Parrott. ^[5]

She later married lutenist Anthony Rooley, with whom she has a son.

On 21 January 2011 it was announced that Dame Emma had been awarded the Queen's Medal for Music^[6], an award funded by the Privy Purse and given to an individual who has had a major influence on the musical life of the nation.^[7]

References[link]

1. ^ Rushdie and Eavis lead honours, BBC News, 15 June 2007
2. ^ "Hanford School". The Good Schools Guide. http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/index.php?option=com_schoollistings&fullwriteup=26633. Retrieved 5 May 2011. 
3. ^ "Honorary Graduates 1989 to present". bath.ac.uk. University of Bath. http://www.bath.ac.uk/ceremonies/hongrads/. Retrieved 18 February 2012. 
4. ^ Are these the 20 best sopranos of the recorded era?, Guardian, 14 March 2007
5. ^ [http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Emma_kirkby_married
6. ^ The Queen’s Medal For Music 2010, 21 January 2011, Buckingham Palace, 21 January 2011
7. ^ The Queen's Medal for Music, 21 January 2011, Buckingham Palace, 21 January 2011

External links[link]

• EMMA KIRKBY: The Official Emma Kirkby website
• BIS records - artist's page
• Harmonia Mundi records - artist's page
• Hyperion records - artist's page
• ATMA records - artist's page
• Decca records - artist's page
• Goldberg, the early-music portal
• Sherborne Girls (Sherborne School For Girls)