Emily Pailthorpe

Described as "the Jacqueline du Pré of the oboe" by the adjudicators of the Ferdnand Gillet International Oboe Competition, Emily Pailthorpe has won a large following amongst fellow musicians and concertgoers worldwide with her fresh, communicative style.

At the age of 17, performing the Vaughan-Williams Concerto, Emily became the youngest artist ever to win the Gillet Competition. She went on to make her acclaimed concerto debut in 2003, playing the Strauss Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra. In addition to her performances as soloist and chamber musician she appears regularly as guest principal oboe with many orchestras, notably the Philharmonia, the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Northern Sinfonia, the Baltimore Symphony, the Dallas Opera, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, and English National Opera. She is also a sought-after session artist and features on the soundtracks of numerous films, most recently Jane Eyre and Harry Potter. Emily can be heard regularly on American National Public Radio, Classic FM, BBC Radio 3, and she was featured as a guest on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. She is the oboist and a founder member of the London Conchord Ensemble, who perform widely across Europe and America with performances at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Brussels Palais des Beaux Arts, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, BBC Wigmore Lunchtime Series, and Washington's Library of Congress.

A graduate of Yale University, where she read English, and the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied with Elaine Douvas, Emily now lives in London with her husband, flautist Daniel Pailthorpe, and their two young children. Her playing has inspired many composers to write for her, including Paul Patterson, who dedicated his Phoenix Concerto to her. She has given both the UK and the USA premiéres of this work. Emily is the newly appointed principal oboist with Sinfonia Viva, UK, and plays on an oboe by Howarth of London. Her recordings have received many accolades, with Gramophone describing her debut solo CD Though Lovers Be Lost (Oboe Classics, CC2008) as "a pungently characterised account - a very rewarding anthology" and IRR adding "This memorable recital is performed with beguiling insight and affection." With the London Conchord Ensemble she has recorded Bach concertos (ClassicFM CD of the Month) and chamber music by Poulenc, Loeffler, Thuille and Balakirev amongst others. A complete discography can be found at www.emilypailthorpe.co.uk and www.conchord.co.uk.