Emma Halnan

Emma Halnan (flute) first came to prominence as the woodwind category winner of BBC Young Musician 2010. In the grand final, she broadcast Reinecke's flute concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales live on BBC television and radio. Since then, she has gone on to perform at major venues worldwide; UK venues include Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and St John’s Smith Square. She has performed live on BBC Radio 3’s “In Tune” on multiple occasions, as well as being broadcast on BBC Radio 2’s "Friday Night is Music Night" as soloist with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Emma has also appeared as concerto soloist with orchestras such as the European Union Chamber Orchestra and the Welsh Sinfonia. Her 2018 diary included two performances of Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto with the London Mozart Players and royal harpist Anne Denholm. Emma won the Sussex Prize for Woodwind in the Royal Overseas League Competition 2019, and was selected as a “Making Music” Philip & Dorothy Green Young Artist 2018-20. Emma also won the Sir Karl Jenkins/Arts Club Classical Music Award 2016, in association with Classic FM. As a result, she recorded and broadcast on Classic FM a piece specially composed for her by Sir Karl Jenkins. Emma was principal flute of the European Union Youth Orchestra 2014-16. She has also freelanced with orchestras including the London Mozart Players, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and English National Opera. Emma also plays historical flutes, freelancing with ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Music For Awhile. She has toured twice with the European Union Baroque Orchestra. In recital, Emma has performed at venues including St. David’s Hall (Cardiff), Gower Festival, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Hertfordshire Festival of Music, Bath International Music Festival and the “La Côte” International Flute Festival 2016 (Switzerland). Emma works regularly with harpist Heather Wrighton and violist Jordan Sian (the Aurora Trio); they have appeared at venues including Wigmore Hall, St. James's Piccadilly and Norfolk & Norwich Festival. They held a prestigious Chamber Music Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music for 2014-16, and also worked together as Live Music Now artists. Emma is also a highly reputed and very dedicated teacher. She teaches privately, at the University of Cambridge, and at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. Her pupils have gained places in the National Children’s Orchestra, National Children’s Wind Orchestra and at various conservatoires (both junior and senior departments). Emma studied at the Royal Academy of Music with William Bennett and Kate Hill, and previously with Anna Pope at the Purcell School of Music, where she won the 2010 Fenton Leavers’ Award. She later studied privately with Robert Winn. Emma has been generously supported by the Hattori Foundation and the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund. She also won the 2014 Kenneth Loveland Gift, and is a City Music Foundation Artist. Emma holds both British and Irish passports.