Emma Kirkby

Emma Kirkby is, to me, the quiet aristocrat of early music. She never chased fashion; instead she built a career on purity of tone and scholarly devotion, and the world eventually came to her. More than 100 recordings, a damehood, the Handel Prize, the Queen's Medal for Music, and yet almost nothing public about her private life. That restraint feels intentional and dignified. I admire artists who let the work speak and refuse to perform their personality. Her soprano became a kind of standard for how Baroque song should breathe. For me she represents excellence without ego, and that is rare and worth honoring.

Name (English)

Emma Kirkby

Name (Japanese)

エマ・カークビー

Reading

えま・かーくびー

Born

February 26, 1949 (age 77)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Pisces / Ox

Origin

Camberley, United Kingdom

Occupation

opera singer

University

Somerville College

Awards & achievements

• Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• 1994 honorary doctor of the University of Bath
• 1997 Handel Prize
• 2010 The Queen's Medal for Music

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://www.emmakirkby.com
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%E3%83%93%E3%83%BC

Tags

• opera singer

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.