BIOGRAPHY
“Kemp’s playing is a universe away from any nasty memories you may have of learning this instrument at school. Her virtuoso quick-fire fingerwork was breath-taking in places, but what impressed me most was the way she could summon up such tranquility and peace in the slower introductions to each sonata. Yes, Bach can still speak to us as a still centre in the midst of a busy world, and there are few places busier than Edinburgh in August."
MusicWeb-International on ROSL 'Bach for Breakfast' Recital @ Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Jill Kemp is passionate about raising the recorder’s profile and proving it to be an exciting and versatile instrument. As a soloist and chamber musician, her repertoire spans seven centuries and she regularly performs new commissions. Winner of numerous prizes, in 2007 she won the Royal Over-Seas League Wind Competition, the first recorder player to do so in its 64-year history.
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Jill has broadcast on the BBC, Classic FM and American, Italian and Polish television. Recital venues throughout Europe, the USA and South Africa include Carnegie Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall. She has performed with ensembles including Red Priest, the Brodowski Quartet and the LSO.
Jill studied at the Guildhall School and Goldsmiths College, and with teachers including Michala Petri and Piers Adams. Jill has given masterclasses throughout Europe and the USA, examined for Trinity Laban Conservatoire and adjudicated for the IBLA Grand Prize and Help Musicians UK. She has given masterclasses and concerts at Dartington International Summer School since 2008 and is a consultant and examiner for TCL exams. Her work as a recording artist includes sessions at Abbey Road for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Fantastic Mr Fox, The Lost King, Philomena and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Following her work in South Africa’s Eastern Cape in 2014, Jill has become a trustee for the Keiskamma Music Academy.
Jill’s CD ‘English Recorder Works’ was released in 2013 on MMC records. Her new disc with pianist Aleksander Szram, ‘Aztec Dances – New Works for Recorder and Piano’, was released in March 2017 on Prima Facie Records.
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“In the slower movements, her ability to iron out seamlessly what some may see as the recorder’s imperfections through a flawless technique is reminiscent of the glass-like quality of Petri, while her bold tone and decisive attack pushing the recorder to its technical and expressive limits, is perhaps reminiscent of Piers Adams’s committed and bravura style.”
The Recorder Magazine