Netherlands-based Australian violinist, Emma Williams, has a passion for the historically informed performance of music and holds degrees in both modern and historical violin performance from Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and the Royal Conservatoire The Hague, respectively. Emma regularly performs with leading period instrument groups in Europe and Australia, including Arcangelo, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Holland Baroque, Anima Eterna Brugge, Concerto Köln, Bremer Barockorchester, Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Australian Haydn Ensemble, and Pinchgut Opera. Having also grown up singing in national youth choirs and studying with vocal pedagogues around the world, Emma and is now combining her passions in an artistic research PhD at Leiden University exploring the expressive possibilities of embodying early-19th-century acting, vocal, and violin performance practices in current performance. Emma is also dedicated to finding new and exciting ways to connect with audiences. In 2018 she co-founded MusicBox, a collective that breaks down barriers surrounding classical music, which is both a concert series in The Hague and a podcast called Outside the MusicBox. Adjacent to (and sometimes interacting with) music, Emma loves making pottery, hiking, knitting, and exploring mind-body connections through yoga, meditation, Alexander Technique, and other movement therapies.

More information about Emma Williams

Fields of interest

• Historically Informed Performance Practice (Violin, Voice, and other instruments connected to them)
• Embodiment
• Historical Acting
• Posture
• Gesture
• Rhetoric
• Vocality in Instrumental Playing
• Techniques and Expressive Devices from The Long 19C

Grants and awards

• World Universities Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship for PhD artistic research (2021-2024)
• Barbara Bishop Hewitt Scholarship for Banff Evolution of the String Quartet Academy (2019)
• Adriana Jacopa Fonds Scholarship for Banff Evolution of the String Quartet Academy (2019)
• Katherine Kearns Scholarship for Master of Early Music (2016)
• Dartington International Summer School: Full Scholarship (2010, 2012, 2015)
• NHM Forsyth Senior Choral Scholar, Choir of Trinity College, University of Melbourne (2013)
• Trinity College Travel Scholarship, University of Melbourne, for Erasmus in the UK (2012)

Curriculum Vitae

Select examples from violin performance career:

Chamber music:

• ZeeheldenQuartet, The Netherlands (since 2017) – co-founder
• HIP string quartet specialising in 18th- to 20th-century chamber music
• Mimesis, The Netherlands (since 2020)
• HIP ensemble exploring the rhetorical expressive possibilities of 17th-19th-century chamber music and melodrama/declamation
• Postscript (since 2021) 
• HIP ensemble exploring 18th-19th-century chamber music and melodrama with historical actors, featured in OverActing Festival Leiden (2022) and Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht (2021)

Orchestras:

• Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, The Netherlands (since 2023)
• Tours in The Netherlands and Germany performing HIP orchestral music
• Arcangelo, United Kingdom (since 2023)
• Tours in The UK and Belgium and recording projects of HIP orchestral music and oratorios 
• Luthers Bach Ensemble, The Netherlands (since 2023)
• Tours in The Netherlands performing HIP chamber and orchestral music
• Concerto Köln, Germany (since 2022)
• Tour in Germany performing 18th-19thcentury HIP orchestral music
• Bremer Barockorchester, Germany (since 2022)
• Vivaldi tour in Germany and Belgium 
• Anima Eterna Brugge, Belgium (since 2018)
• Tours in Belgium and France performing 19th-20th-century HIP orchestral music
• Holland Baroque, The Netherlands (since 2018)
• Tours and recordings in The Netherlands and Germany - both HIP and contemporary music
• Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Australia (since 2015)
• National tours and recordings – HIP 16th-21st-century chamber and orchestral music
• Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Australia (since 2015)
• National tours and recordings – HIP 18th-20th-century orchestral music
• Australian Haydn Ensemble, Australia (since 2019)
• National tours – HIP 18th-19th-century orchestral music
• Pinchgut Opera, Australia (since 2015)
• HIP productions of early operas in Sydney

Tertiary education:

• Leiden University: PhD in Artistic Research of early-19th-century performance practices (2020-)
  Supervisors: Dr Anna Scott and Prof Clive Brown
• Royal Conservatory of The Hague: Master of Early Music – Violin (2017-2019)
  Teachers: Kati Debretzeni and Shunske Sato
• Thesis on vocal portamento use in Schubert’s violin music available here (10/10)
• Royal Conservatory of The Hague: Pre-Masters diploma in Early Music – Violin (2016-2017)
  Teacher: Enrico Gatti
• Melbourne Conservatory of Music, University of Melbourne: Bachelor of Music (Honours) – Violin and Voice (2011-2015)
  Teachers: Michael Loftus-Hills & Monica Curro (modern violin), Rachael Beesley (HIP violin), various vocal teachers

Key Publications

Master of Early Music thesis (published 2019):
https://www⁠.researchcatalogue.net/profile/show-exposition?exposition=561381