© Hugo Glendinning
Emma Walshe, Soprano
I developed a passion for choral singing as a teenager, performing with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and the Gloucester Cathedral Youth Choir. My love of the early choral repertoire was cemented during my time as a choral scholar at Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, where I read Music. In 2008 I began an apprenticeship with the Monteverdi Choir and started working regularly both as a soloist and consort singer with numerous London-based vocal ensembles.
As a huge fan of the Tallis Scholars, having listened many times to their original recording of Tallis’ Spem in Alium, I was honoured and excited to be asked to perform with them for the first time in May 2010. It was a baptism of fire as the concert was filmed for a broadcast on French television! Since then I have had the pleasure of performing with the group all over the world, from China to the USA, becoming a regular member in early 2014. Highlights have included our two collaborations with the wonderful Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, performances in stunning venues such as the impressive cathedral in Siena and singing stratospherically high pieces such as Taverner’s Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas with my fellow soprano colleague Amy. I have particularly enjoyed exploring the choral repertoire of Arvo Pärt, most especially his Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen, which I performed back in my very first concert. Although Mouton’s Nesciens Mater and Byrd’s Tribue Domine have to be my absolute favourites!