Dame Emma Kirkby has dedicated her career to Early Music, as an artist and mentor for several generations of musicians. She is still at the forefront of early music performance as a soprano and is recognised worldwide for her elegant and intelligent musicianship. To date, Dame Emma has made well over a hundred recordings of all kinds, from sequences of Hildegarde of Bingen to madrigals of the Italian and English Renaissance, cantatas and oratorios of the Baroque era, and works of Mozart, Haydn and J. C. Bach.

In 1999 Dame Emma was voted Artist of the Year by Classic FM Radio listeners; in 2000 she received the Order of the British Empire, and 2007 saw her appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She was delighted in June 2008 to return to her alma mater, Oxford University, and receive an Honorary Doctorate of Music. In 2011, Dame Emma was awarded the Queens Medal for Music. She is a Patron of Continuo Foundation. Photo credit @ Allan Watson